As Lee strode back into their campsite with Em, he got a good look at the squad. Jeremy sat down next to a slowly gathering fire—hands clasped together as he thought deeply. His uniform had some minor damage, and his eyes were hollow. Lee felt he understood Jeremy the best, but maybe he was wrong.

Kendri looked worse for wear; a large bruise was slowly developing on his exposed forearms. He held his spear across his lap, slowly running a whetstone across the tip. An empty bottle was lying on its side on the ground next to him. Lee couldn’t find any reason to begrudge the man a drink now.

Meriah was pale, unconscious, and had bandages wrapped around her hands—or where hands would normally be. Two stumps were what was left after Em took hold of the situation. Kooco sat next to her, silent and downtrodden. She raised her head as Lee approached, and a slight smile pulled at her tiny beak. Hope was evident in her eyes as she got up from her roosting position and flicked her wings out.

Lee spoke before any more hope could gather in her small body. “I will stop her bleeding, but I won’t give her hands back. Not yet, anyway.”

He waited momentarily for a reaction, as he wasn’t sure what to expect. For all he knew, Kooco could be angry, sad, frustrated… any of the emotions would fit, and she would be justified.

What he didn’t expect was understanding.

It took a second for her to process the information. It was obviously not what she had expected to hear, but she wasn’t surprised. It was almost like she had been waiting for Meriah’s eventual punishment. She gave a small nod. “I understand, Friend Lee Barnes. She… She deserves it.”

Lee knelt down and ran his hand over Kooco’s back. Her soft yellow feathers ran between his fingers as he tried to explain his reasoning. “I am sorry. It seems we both know that things have gotten too out of hand, pun not intended, and her actions need to be stopped. Where I’m from, corporal punishment is frowned upon, but this was the easiest and fastest solution.”

He angled himself in front of Kooco and met her eyes. “I think it’s time we hear about her past. Yours as well. If you don’t want everyone to know…” Lee gestured with his free hand to the others around. “... you can just tell me privately.”

Lee stopped his petting, which was hopefully comforting to Kooco—not weird and condescending. He cast Mend Wounds on Meriah and used Mana Manipulation to focus on healing her stumps. When his life mana wanted to spread outward to regrow her lost appendages, he clamped down and reigned it back in. Once finished, Meriah’s stumps were healed over, and her formally pale skin looked vibrant.

Kooco watched Lee work. She was near-emotionless, but her shuddering breaths gave away her sadness and grief. If Lee had to guess, it was probably caused by a mix of the loss of Belgrate and the pitiful state of Meriah’s hands.

“I think you are correct, Friend Lee Barnes. When she wakes, I will tell you our story.” Kooco said.

He nodded, then walked off to talk to Jeremy. It was time to get his side of the story. While he trusted Em more than any of the others, she did have quite a wild personality. Trust but verify.

Jeremy talked him through the entirety of the delve. From Em walking down the side of the wall to the first statue, all the way to when they exited the mining camp. Lee nodded along, not interrupting him along the way. Once finished, Jeremy walked into his tent and came back with a rough stone. He handed it to Lee.

Lee rotated the rough stone until he saw Belgrate’s horrified face. He simply stared at it for a while, memories of their times together flashing through his mind. In the end, he handed it back—emotionless. Their stories lined up.

While looking Jeremy up and down, Lee asked a question. “What do you feel?”

Caught off guard, Jeremy blinked in mild confusion. Eventually, he frowned and uttered a single word. “Responsible.”

Lee leaned back and gazed into the fire as he tapped his hands on the wooden log he sat on. “I want to speak to the general.”

Lee saw Jeremy jerk in his peripheral vision. Fear and worry warred for control only momentarily, but resignation eventually won. “Oka… Okay. I have to be there to input a military code, but… Okay.”

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“Great. Let’s get started.” Lee clapped his hands as he turned to stare at Jeremy.

“You want to—Right now?” Jeremy said, still worried but resigned.

“Yeah, Jeremy. Right now.” Lee said.

Jeremy walked back into his tent and came back with a familiar notebook and a rolled-up scroll. The scroll was on the smaller side and seemed to be pearly white parchment wrapped around a metallic rod. There was a small cord that wrapped around the exposed top and bottom of the rod, enabling it to be wrapped closed.

Jeremy spoke as he fiddled with his notebook and scroll, apparently setting it up for Lee to use. “I don’t know if she will respond or if someone else will… We might not get a response at all.”

Lee snorted. “I have a feeling that I’ll get a response. I’m pretty important after all. Aren’t I?”

Jeremy cracked a small smile, and given the circumstances, Lee counted that as a win. Jeremy wrote some gibberish into the scroll, and once he was finished, Lee saw the words vanish before his very eyes.

Jeremy handed the scroll over, along with his enchanted quill. “When you finish writing, tap this small square down here and its contents will be sent to the other scroll.” Jeremy pointed at a very faint square, which was a slightly yellowish hue in the bottom right of the unsealed scroll.

Huh. Like hitting ‘Enter.’

Lee grasped the quill and began writing. He had a lot he wanted to talk about with this general, and it was time to make some demands. He looked to Jeremy and asked for one final piece of information. “What is the general’s name and how formal should I be?”

Jeremy swallowed to wet his suddenly dry throat. “Fatalina Castana. You should be very formal…”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------

General Fatalina Castana sat at her new desk in peace and quiet. It was the first bit of it she had had since she got rid of a… national security threat. She shuffled papers back and forth, organizing them by importance and relevancy. To most people, importance and relevance were one and the same.

She was not like most people.

Something could be seemingly irrelevant but still be very important. Most people only focused on what was before them and what was needed to fulfill their given task. She was the same in this regard, but her view was much more broad.

She examined a page detailing the shipments of supplies to the front, then shuffled around for the matching puzzle pieces. She grabbed the papers detailing supply routes and merchant guild prices as she looked for a report on Geofry Synder, the leader of the Merchant Guild, and related family members from a folder on her desk.

She read through the reports and then gazed at the calendar hung up across the room. In her mind, she shifted and sorted through all the information provided to her and came up with a plan of action.

She was about to call for Regina when her ear twitched. A pair of familiar faint footsteps could be heard outside and down the hall.

“Regina, Enter.” Fatalina spoke loudly so that Regina could hear.

Fatalina continued to organize her papers as her trusted secretary opened the door and approached. She didn’t need to look up from her desk to know it was her, it was all but a given. Regina’s gait and footsteps were nearly impossible to replicate.

Without looking away from her papers, Fatalina started to bark out some orders. “Send a gift to Annalise Synder, Geofry’s daughter. Her birthday is soon.”

When no footsteps were heard after barking out her orders, Fatalina finally looked up. Regina stood uncharacteristically unmoving in front of her, holding a scroll. Fatalina shoved her papers to the side and clasped her hands together as she waited for Regina to speak.

“The foreign healer, Lee Barnes is asking to speak with you,” Regina said, placing the original copy scroll onto her desk.

Fatalina was hard to catch off guard, always listening out for the unseen. But, occasionally, she was caught flat-footed. She grabbed the scroll and unfurled it as she spoke to Regina. “Who else has read the contents of this scroll?”

“Just me.”

Fatalina nodded slightly, sat up straight, and read through what was written.

Hello General Fatalina. My name is Lee Barnes, I’m sure you have heard of me from my traveling companion Jeremy.

Firstly, I am unaware of the specifics of who you are or what you do. All I know is that you are the General of the Thexian Military and an individual with enough standing to do what she wants.

I don’t know what Jeremy has told you about me, but I have a good guess. Everything. While you may want to be formal and diplomatic because of who I am and your position, I do not. At the end of the day, we are all just people. Let’s not muddle this conversation with faux compliments and pleasantries.

I was told that you may not respond, but I have a feeling you will. There is a lot I would like to discuss with you. Both compliments and complaints about your country and those in it, along with what I want to accomplish.

I’ll wait for your response for thirty minutes, as I do not know how long these scrolls take to work. If you do not respond, either because of my misunderstanding of these scrolls, or because you did not want to converse, I leave you with this.

Healing is a powerful tool in war.

Fatalina looked up from the scroll to find a slight smile tugging at Regina’s lips. Fatalina grinned and held out her hand. “I think I’m going to like this guy, or hate him with all of my being. There will be no in between. How long has it been since this was received?”

Regina placed a quill into Fatalina’s outstretched hand. “Ten minutes. Would you like my opinion?”

Fatalina shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“You’re going to love him for what he brings, but hate the trouble it causes.”

Fatina tapped the quill point onto the desk a few times, causing a steady staccato to ring through her sensitive ear. “Let’s agree to disagree.”

Then, she started writing her response.