City, Province of Rebirth

Terara is left waiting for twenty minutes before getting ushered into Anton’s office. Only slightly longer than she expected, he’s getting bolder with his slights every week. Which is why his tone comes as a surprise.

Standing from his desk he walks around it and meets her halfway inside, “Please accept my apologies for the late start. I’ve been behind schedule all morning and am only now beginning to execute within a meeting original scheduled time allowance.”

Anton offers his hand, that she takes and allows herself to be guided to a pair of cushioned seats in the corner of his office located behind the open door.

Comfortably seated, Lady Terara waits with hands folded in her lap.

Anton taking the seat opposite, sits with legs crossed, elbows perched on armrests with steepled hands obscuring the lower half of his face.

Peering keenly at the lady, Anton asks, “I know you think it’s too soon, but have you considered any of the proposals made this month?”

“I’ve considered all of them and find them all lacking.”

“I figured you’d say that, and since all the eligible bachelors have already been rejected you think I’m out of leverage.

“I assure you I am not.”

Balling her hands into fists, “I’m not going to marry someone simply because it will make you feel at ease.”

Angrily but without raising his voice, “It’s not just me that’s concerned, your son has the entire family on edge.”

“My son? You mean your nephew. He is under no obligation to the rest of the family. You made sure to insulate yourselves from him when his… when your brother died.”

“My brother? You mean your husband.

“We insulated ourselves from whoever holds the valley, not the other way around. He’s stopped all transfers of funds to the family treasury.”

Relaxing her hands, as she now has a way to exert control, “I suppose he has something better to do with those funds.”

“Yes, preparing for a naval battle from a land-locked position.”

“He has information suggesting a need for a fortified position in the mountains. He may be young, but he has a brilliant mind and sources better than ours.”

“Sources, like those Lost Children playing soldier in the mountains?”

“At least they play soldier. Rebirth has nothing but a handful constable’s and a Study with aging Defenders that rely on the El’Hat Study for support, and our own intelligence says they’ve lost a third of their manpower in the last year.

“What are you going to do when this war that everyone seems to see coming rolls over rebirth and half of Missacon before the People Province of Vorg mounts and defense at their border?

“We don’t even know if they’ll help us if there’s an invasion. The People’s Party will most likely present a strong defense. An invading army with a stretched supply line will push deeper inland instead of laying siege against an entrenched army defending its families.

“Where will that lead them? Will they push south into the Lava Fields? Will they divert north and slog their way through the Southern Swamps? No, they’re going to burn our crop lands across Oiho and Missacon, cut off Thuma, torch Twoya, and spend next winter protected in our valley, living off the food rich wilderness or the Rockey Waste Mountains.”

Anton slow claps his hands three times, “Bravo, you figured out the whole invasion plan of a navy… no, an army; an army that we don’t even know their intentions.”

“This could be a rogue nation state from the north, privateers. It could be a supposed ally; we don’t have enough information to say with certainty.

“But! I can say with certainty that Tomas has turned his back on his family.”

Lady Terara looks at the wall clock and notes, had the meeting started on time it would be over already. Abruptly standing, “You don’t mind keeping people waiting; I do. I have somewhere to be in fifteen minutes.

“Don’t get up. I’ll show myself out.”

Smiling on the inside, Lady Terara leaves the door open on her way out.

Ten minutes later she was back in her office, the door closed. She allows herself to seethe outwardly for a full minute to get it out of her system.

A light knock signals her next appointment has arrived, “Send him in.”

The man swagers through the door held open by Sara. The same behavior by other men would seem vulgar and disrespectful. This man’s swagger was earned, he exudes confidence in every move, every step, his every word. He has been in command all his life and has always succeeded or bloodied his opponent to the point where victory no longer mattered.

The man pauses and surveys the office and woman before him. The office is standard to her family and her station, spacious, a heavy wooden desk, a conference table with six seats, a smaller table with three chairs by the window, shelves with small keepsakes and decorations, the old gaslight pipes repurposed as conduit for electric lamps.

She’s wearing a modestly cut, blood red dress, patterned with dozens of black silhouettes of the Brust flying snake crest. Her unusual height tells him she must be wearing heels.

He would be considered underdressed if he were anyone else. His blue naval slacks with red piping are standard issue, his thick cavi-wool sweater is undyed giving it a yellow pallor. Recently shined boots are his only attempt at dressing up for the occasion.

Standing and walking to the front of her desk, Lady Terara holds out a hand in greetings, “Thank you for agreeing to this meeting on my home turf, Captain.”

Governor Anfal Nikitin takes her hand, leans forward, and brushes his lips across her knuckles, a greeting she was warned to expect.

Still bowed forward with his hot breath on the back of her hand, “The pleasure is all mine. Even on the icy waters of the Fingers, tales of the Lady of Brusk valley’s beauty is well known. Had I refused you, my crew would have thought I lost all reason and mutinied on the spot.”

Slowly releasing her hand as if reluctant, “Besides it’s safer for me here than any of the Northern cities of the Fingers. My face is too well known on that turf.”

Terara Brusk can’t help being charmed, even knowing the man’s fierce reputation, “Let’s take seats by the window, before getting to business.”

Moving like a panther he easily reaches the chair facing the exit and pulls it out and offers it with a polite nod and a charming smile.

Wordlessly Terara accepts the seat and allows him to push the chair in as she sits.

Taking the seat across from the lady, the governor doesn’t waste time with pleasantries, “I hear you’ve been losing ships lately. What is it you think I can do for you?”

Unshaken, “There’s it is, the merciless Windrunner and Fist of the Lakes.”

Leaning back comfortably in his chair, “That’s a name I wear with pride, do not think you wound me.”

“Not at all Governor or should I call you Captain Nikitin, I was just noting that the smooth-talking rogue you like to present, is an act you can’t keep up for long.”

Smirking, “I can keep it up as long as needed. I merely misjudged your need for my affections.”

Matching his energy with opposite polarity, “Now you flatter yourself, something you must need to do often.”

Barking in laughter, the captain chokes out “Oh you’re a fiery one; I like you! And since I’m here by invitation as the Governor of the Southern Cities of the Fingers, there is no need for you to call me Captain.”

Resuming his relaxed demeanor, “I was warned to not underestimate you. Let’s start again.”

The office door bumping open interrupts the conversation as Susan backs into the room holding a tea service. Silently she sets it on the small table and pours a cup for each, starting with Terara before leaving.

After hearing the door click shut the governor continues, “I received your request to meet last week. After reviewing the extradition laws of Rebirth, I looked for reasons someone in your position would make such a request. The most obvious was the news of ships going missing in the Cantial. Good job on suppressing such losses from making the broadsheets.”

All business now, Lady Terara sips her tea, “If it was better known, trade would be disrupted. That would hurt the people at both ends of the supply chain more than us. We are keeping things quiet as a courtesy and by request from our customers.

“You’ve deduced your reason for being here successfully. I suppose it’s only right that I answer your question now.

“I summoned you to Rebirth to tender you an offer.”

Neither speak for ten heart beats. Locking eyes, the silence stretches for another ten beats.

The captain decides he might be here all day if he doesn’t ask, “What is your offer?”

“Employment; I’d like to hire your ships to patrol our shores and size up our enemy.”

Ten more heart beats, “Ships? I have a lot of those. How many are we talking about?”

Five heartbeats and another sip, “All of them.”

Mammatus Study, headmasters office

Master Vania Adara, Dean of Sight and Sound sits in the office of headmaster. Not because she wants the job, it’s just the best place to sit to accomplish the task before her. She’s also not alone, standing before her is a student.

Not exactly average for Mammatus Study. Torsha came to them two years ago, there was a lot of turmoil, and it seemed like a bad time to adhere to every little rule for admission. Torsha is now thirty-two years old with hair like fire and eyes greener than Luscin’s. Keeping the boys, and men from gawking is only made harder by her lack of clothing modesty. Her figure requires custom tailored clothing, something the woman insisted to be allowed in her case. Her original school uniform while sized correctly always looked two sizes too small. Shirt buttons always looked on the verge of bursting; Master Black Hill suggested allowing the top two to be unhooked as a cheap alternative to a tailor.

Now properly clothed, though being an old-fashioned woman, she still manages to dress to leave nothing to the imagination, she reports her progress.

“I’ve dropped hints and insinuated the importance of the letter I received today to all the male members of the faculty with more than a decade of service.

“Do you really think this will work?”

“If you performed as well as I know you can, we have a good shot at this triggering some action.”

“I’m not questioning my acting. It’s the bait that baffles me. Why would anyone care about a letter I receive?”

Faking a half smile, Adara is too tired for a real one, “You established you have information, then you brought it to me. When you leave without the letter and look distraught, you may be approached by someone.

“That someone either cares deeply about you or they care deeply about unknown letters that get left behind when meeting with the acting headmaster.”

“That seems too simple to me.”

“Simple is best. If we make the scenario too intricate it’s more likely to be noticed.

“It will be up to you to decide my next action based on who approaches and how they try to console you.

“Now it’s time to get to work. Rub your eyes to make them red before leaving.”

Playing her part, Adara returns to her paperwork and doesn’t look up as Torsha drops the letter on the desk and leaves.

Pulling the door shut behind her, Torsha takes a deep breath and briefly wonders how she ended up being trusted with something so important. She doesn’t enjoy this at all, she wants to learn how to fly and help people with her gift.

Pulling herself together she crosses the anteroom when one of the ten most likely to be here people walks in, Leven the page supervisor,

“Hey Torsha, did you see Roos?

Holding a standard notebook up for her to see, “I’ve been trying to return a notebook she left in the library but can’t find her.”

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“She’s not here, sorry I can’t help you.”

“No problem, at least I don’t have to interrupt Master Adara now.”

Taking a calming breath, she shudders away the anxiety that has been building.

Levin looks at her askew, “Oh, you were tense. I didn’t notice until you nailed that calming breath drill.

“I’m heading to the cafeteria next. Would you like to join me? I promise to try and be charming.”

Before she could answer in walks Antje, another student turned faculty member. Working as a class assistant allows him to show off his eidetic memory. He’s unusually short for his age and his slight build makes him look younger than his sixteen years. His height and short cropped hair calls attention to the lone black strip across the top of his head.

Interrupting their conversation, “Torsha, we were talking earlier, and you disappeared. You never finished your story about that letter.”

Antje looks over at Leven and back to Torsha, “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

Leven smoothly responds, “Not at all, I was here looking for Roos, have you seen her?”

Antje pantomimes an exaggerated thinking pose with his hand on his chin and chirps, “Nope.”

Leven politely says, “Thank you, Antje, for your expected level of assistance.” A note of sarcasm creeps into his voice as he adds, “Torsha if you’ll excuse me, I will leave you in Antje, capable hands.”

Leven nods to Torsha and slips past Antje, presumably to see if Roos is in the cafeteria.

Antje smiles at being alone with Torsha, “Your story piqued my interest, I’d like to hear more about what happened back home.”

Torsha dislikes Antje, as do most people; he has a personality that grates on nerves. He’s the exact opposite of Leven. Everyone likes Leven, he’s kind, handsome, and personable; the type of person that is easy to open up to.

Leven would make a perfect spy but disappeared to pursue his own interests the second he had a chance to escape Antje. That wasn’t very noble of him. Antje on the other hand is already trying to pry information from her.

Duty calls, “I’m heading to the cafeteria; would you like to join me?”

Antje, clearly happy at the invitation, “Yes, that would be wonderful.”

Walking down the stairs side by side in silence, Torsha again evaluates the circumstances that lead to this point in her life. She had always dreamed of living in a city, joining an acting troop. Marrying a fellow thespian and raising a troop of her own. She’d make costumes and help them remember their lines, her husband would be the lead in every production, and she’d occasionally take a role in the same production to be with him. It would be perfect.

Then she moved to Towya and joined an acting troop. She even met a dashing leading man who was instantly smitten with her. The politics and stress of that profession were not what she expected. Her dashing leading man was the center of everyone’s attention, and he fed off that energy, leaving him with no need of a wife or desire to raise a family.

She was one of the fortunate ones that had been born with an exceptionable level of gift but never desired to use it for anything more than house chores. That is until she met the street urchin and the girl stalking him.

She was in her mid-twenties by this time and seriously reconsidering her theater life. She was heading home from the market having picked up dinner when she heard the loud yelp of an injured inu followed by the clatter of a cart and the expletive filled shouting of a man.

Turning around she was just in time to see a brute of a boy put his shoulder into an oncoming charging inu pulling a cart. The boy’s shoulder smacked the inu’s chest, instead of being trampled by 600 lbs. of charging muscle he stayed put. The inu on the other hand crumpled between the boy and the wagon smashing into its backside.

The inu lets out another wounded yelp as the driver launches from his seat and begins his flight over the boy’s head. The boy puts up a hand, fingertips brushing the driver’s face halting his forward movement as abruptly as he stopped the inu. The contents of the cart also catapulted forward, raining cabbages all along the street.

The driver fell atop the boy as the inu shrugged the cart backwards. It was only at this point that Torsha noticed the two children standing behind the boy with terrified expressions plastered on their faces.

As the boy crawls from under the driver, a distraught man scoops up the two little girls. The man looks stunned but takes a moment to survey the cabbage littered street to try and make sense of what happened.

Handing the children to a woman he approaches the boy who is now standing up and eyeing a cabbage at his feet.

“Thank you, young man for saving my children. I owe you a great debt.”

The boy didn’t even pause, “You don’t owe me anything, all I did was wreck this man’s cart. Take care of that will you?”

Perplexed by the response, all the man can do is agree.

Torsha watches as do many as the man, woman, and two children assist the driver in gathering his cabbages and reload his cart. The inu is partially lame from a cut on a pad but is still capable of pulling the cart. The boy disappeared almost immediately without saying another word.

Turning to leave Torsha bumps into someone, a young and rather smallish girl with raven black hair. Except she carried herself like an adult, “Oh pardon me, young…”

“Did you see it happen? I just got here, and I missed it. What did he do?”

Flustered, “Excuse me?”

“You already said that.”

“Said what?”

“Pardon me… and excuse me. Are you simple?”

Torsha would get angry, but she was raised better than that. Besides seeing the young boy’s ability with the gift reminded her that young brash kids are often the most dangerous.

“No, I’m not simple of mind, I’m simply polite. The pardon was for the bump, the excuse me was because I do not understand the situation.

“What is it you want me to tell you?”

Looking at the shrinking crowd of onlookers, “Tell me what he did.”

“Well, the driver lost control of his cart…”

“Not the driver, why would I care about the driver?”

“Please, you must allow me to set the scene properly.”

“I’ll start again. The driver had lost control of his cart. His inu had stepped on something and cut a pad, causing it to lunge forward uncontrollably.

“The street was empty except for a family that was crossing. The parents were clear but two of their children had been lingering behind. The inu was bearing down on them when a mysterious boy appeared.

“The boy stopped the inu and the catapulted driver, while protecting the children. It was rather well done. The boy saved the day.”

The girl ponders the story for a moment, glances at the street to see if the story aligns with what is left of the scene, “Eh, I would have moved the children out of the way and then slowed the inu gradually.”

Torsha, older and wiser and knowing the difference between reality and wishful thinking, doesn’t comment. Instead, she poses a question, “Do you know him, are you friends?”

“Us friends? We’ve never met, but I think I’m going to marry him. He just needs to grow up a bunch before I’ll tell him.”

Alarm bells go off in Torsha’s head, “That’s nice, but shouldn’t you at least become friends before making such a big decision?”

“There’s plenty of time for that. Besides, so long as he continues to move in the right direction, I don’t need to intervein.”

Ignoring the alarm bells, “Color me curious, what direction is that?”

“Towards Mammatus Study. They’ll take anyone with the gift if they’re powerful enough. You should go.”

A whole orchestra is blaring alert, not just the percussion section, “Why would you suggest such a thing.”

The girl looks at Torsha as if re-evaluating her, “You’re alone, you’re unhappy, and you have the gift and are untrained. There must be a reason for all three. Going to Mammatus Study would fix your problems.”

The cacophony of alarms almost drowns out her ability to think as she stammers, “Why would you say that?”

Looking back at the street, the girl flatly states, “There’s barely enough food in your basket to feed one person, and you’ve been sucking up kinetic and thermal energy since we started talking. You should stop before frost forms and people notice.”

Torsha stops gathering, it’s a nervous habit that has interfered with many of her performances.

Collecting herself, “That’s all very well and good, but you only addressed two of my supposed problems.”

The girl looks back at Torsha and blinks as if seeing her for the first time, placing her left arm behind her back, “Maybe I missed that one, you look happy enough here.”

It was several years before she made the journey to Mammatus, finding the boy and girl there was a pleasant surprise. Making friends with Master Adara and Master Kail Blackwell made the transition from actor to defender easier than she thought could be possible.

Being invited into their inner circle was a shock, she never dreamed there could be Defender factions with different loyalties beyond their oaths. She also didn’t realize she was being vetted, but that happens when you start sharing quarters with a study master.

It started as a discreet fling with Kail, nothing but a bit of fun after completing the academic portion of her training. Things became hot and heavy when they started unarmed sparring. Sparring that quickly moved from the atrium practice yard to his quarters.

Now she’s here, crossing the atrium and turning into the breezeway connecting the kitchen to the dining area. Accompanied by Antje a young, talented master’s assistant, with a terrible personality.

She should try and placate his curiosity, “I don’t know why I hyped up that letter so much. It’s only important to me after all.”

Antje doesn’t believe her, “If it was only important to you, why’d you take it to Master Adara?”

Those silly alarm bells start going off, “Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been parading it around the study all day, then you disappear, and I find you outside her office without it.

“What else am I to think. Then I see you with Stupid-snoop Leven; if he’s interested, I know it’s something big.”

She had a lie ready for this occasion, “The letter is big news from my family in Twoya, I went to Master Adara for advice. She gave her advice; I threw the letter away as I had already read it a dozen times and while the news was important, there was nothing sentimental about the letter itself. If you’re so curious, you should go and ask Master Adera if you can empty her trash bin.”

Antje blinked twice as if deciding something then continued, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have pressed you. I’ll leave you alone.”

That interaction left Torsha confused, as to which camp Antje belonged, curious and helpful assistant or information digging spy. He may be leaving for his own purposes, or he could be formulating a plan to get into the headmaster’s office before the bin is emptied. Whichever it is, she’s done her part; she’ll fill in Kail tonight.

Her thoughts are once again interrupted be a young girls voice, “Can I join you?”

Looking up, Torsha is pleasantly surprised to see Roos, “That would be nice.”

“I figured you wanted company since you’re sitting alone in a cafeteria without any food.”

Torsha looks at the empty table before her and chides herself for being so distracted that she forgot to pick up some food on her way to the table.

Roos takes a seat next to Torsha and slides her tray halfway between the two of them.

“You can have the cookie; I’ll grab another on my way to the library.”

That reminds Torsha, “If you’re looking for the notebook you left up there; Leven has it.”

Roos scrunches her face, opens her book bag and rummages through it, “It must be someone else’s; mine is right where it belongs, and I haven’t used the library all week.”

Alarm bells start clanging in Torsha’s head as she visualizes Leven holding up a notebook for her to see.

“My mistake.”