Colonel Aziz got up from his breakfast table, having stuffed himself with hearty amounts of egg-fried bread. It was a rather easy dish — crack some eggs, toss a few slices of bread inside, and then fry the result. With it as the main dish for breakfast, his first meal of the day should have been a rather satisfying one…if not for the familiar spirit beside him.

He glanced at Marshal Marie, who was in turn staring at Paragon Abele glumly. The reason for her displeasure was clear — she was supposed to leave with Aziz to assess the state of the First Aerial’s exercise, under the independent leadership of the battalion commanders, but Paragon Abele’s presence had complicated things.

There was a great deal of operational secrets at work, things that even Marie couldn’t reveal lightly, but as it was, Minister Eventide had passed down orders to manage both the ongoing exercise and babysitting Paragon Abele.

“Egg-fried bread,” Abele began, “is indeed rather nice.”

“We’ll be going outfield after this, though. You won’t get to have such good food once we’re out there,” said Marie. “We’ll be living off rations until the exercise is over.”

“Rations?” Abele asked, clearly intrigued by that word. “What type of rations are we talking about?”

“High energy rations, designed to sustain Soldiers and Squires in times of war. For people like you and me, we don’t have such strict limitations, but it’s still quite edible,” Aziz replied. “It’s a standard issue meal package made out of rice and meat, and you can consume it without cooking.”

“Mortal, I demand that you give me one to try out.”

“We’ve been over this for the past few days, right?” Marie rolled her eyes. “Ask normally.”

Abele furrowed his boats. “Ma—Marshal, can I please have a ration to try out?”

“You couldn’t remember my name, right?” Marie pointed to her chest. “Our names are also sewn here, so I see no reason for you to not say our names properly.”

“The only chest I’ll ever look at is that of Maylin’s,” Abele replied, his proud voice carrying throughout the canteen.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment, and then the undercurrent of chatter broke out into laughter a moment later. Marie slammed her head down onto the table, and Aziz decided to slink back into his seat as forty-odd soldiers turned to look at Abele.

“This is so embarrassing,” Aziz whispered, mortified.

“This guy’s an idiot,” Marie added. “Does he also say things like these when he’s with the others?”

“I don’t know,” Aziz replied, “and I don’t want to find out.”

“We’ll have to teach him some things, don’t we?” Marie rubbed her head, before sitting back up. The laughter had fortunately died out a few seconds later, presumably because everyone noticed the pure-blue robes Abele was wearing. In the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, everyone knew about Conrah’s familiar spirits, who were already here to help out…and they were all always wearing blue.

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“Did I say something wrong?” Abele asked, puzzled. “Why did everyone laugh?”

Aziz glanced at Marie. “Hey, he’s at least improving really quickly. You wanna do it, or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” said Marie. “Look, there are some things you really can’t say in public, and especially out loud. It’s rude and disrespectful. You might have been able to say it freely back when you were in Conrah’s Divine Kingdom, but you shouldn’t say things about other people’s bodies.”

“Mortal, your words mystify me.”

“Just…don’t say anything related to the body, yours or others, out loud, okay?” said Marie. “If you absolutely, positively have to, speak softly and be respectful about it.”

Abele looked at Marie, and then nodded slowly. “Very well. I shall confer with Maylin over this first, however.”

“You’re rather brave, aren’t you?” Aziz leaned back on his chair. “If she heard what you said earlier, you’re going to be beaten up.”

“Really?”

“Trust me,” Aziz replied. “Anyway, we won’t have a chance to do that. Marie and I will be heading over to the First Aerial to check up on their progress. You’re supposed to come along, but you can choose not to.”

“I’ll come along.”

Aziz shrugged. “Alright. Your call. Just don’t come after me if you get bored or are unhappy about the food, got it?”

“You belittle me, little mortal.”

“My name’s Aziz. Not ‘little mortal’ or whatever other words you use.” Aziz gathered everyone’s plates and brought them to the washing area. Once he was done, he walked over to the entrance of the canteen, where Marie was explaining to Abele about the intricacies behind normal speech and interaction.

From what he could tell, the familiar spirit was just utterly inexperienced when it came to interaction. There were also a few other complexes that made him less inclined to conform to them too, but Marie and Aziz had seen some progress in his learning as he followed them through their daily affairs.

For starters, he no longer called them ‘insects’, which could be nothing else other than a drastic improvement. There were some awkward things he also used to say, like exposing polite fictions and niceties, but after a few lectures from Marie and Aziz, Abele had learnt that people sometimes lie for the sake of it.

He still couldn’t quite wrap the concept of lying for social reasons, however. But when all was said and done, Paragon Abele now was at least tolerable, and even amusing at the best of times. It was a drastic improvement through and through.

“Marie, can I speak to you for a moment?” Aziz asked.

Paragon Abele blinked, and then moved over to some private place. Marie eyed the departing Abele, and then turned to Aziz. “What’s it about?”

“Well, I think we might be able to complete Paragon Maylin’s task in the next month or so,” Aziz replied. “I think we can shift around the schedules for First Aerial; we can proceed with Phase Three, and then conduct inspections for Phase Two after that.”

“Inspecting the fortifications when we return?” Marie asked. “That’s…”

“A rather good idea, actually. We can also get the battalion commanders to warn everyone that shoddy work might mean our exercise’s extended,” Aziz replied, a grin on his face.

“You are a nasty, nasty man.” Marie rolled her eyes. “But it’s quite the good idea, given our circumstances now.”

“Are we in accord then?”

“Well, let’s get down to it, then. We’ll give them a week to get here. Three days for an exercise pause should be good enough.” Marie tapped her feet twice. “Yes. It should be enough.”

“I’ll make the arrangements.”

“See to it. I’ll be in my office once you’re done.”

Aziz nodded, and then left the canteen first.