Repercussions
When Amar had awoken, she had found herself in an unfamiliar cot in a room, by herself. Or at least she thought she had been alone, until the voice started sounding off in her head.
‘Hello dear, are you feeling alright?’
“What- Who’s there?”
‘Oh, of course dear. Let me properly introduce myself, Amar. I am the Goddess of Life, Selerys and your Patron.’
Amar was flabbergasted beyond the ability to speak. Why was there a Goddess in her head?
Am I going crazy?
Selerys laughed, and it sounded like a collection of wind chimes on a summer day.
‘No, Amar, I have a connection with all of my descendants. This is a birthright afforded to you by your blood. Although in your circumstance, there is an extenuating situation.’
Suddenly the pieces snapped together in Amar’s head. She had known of Jeremiah’s- and by extension her- heritage, but had never considered the ramifications of it beyond being different from the other children.
You… spoke to my dad, too?
‘He never kindled his spark enough to allow us to hold a proper conversation, like this one currently. But some days, when the Forest around him was quiet, I would sing to him, and he would manage to hear bits and pieces. He was a good man, Jeremiah.’
Tears found their way over the creases of Amar’s smile. She would always miss him, and remember those days he had taught her when she was young, but Amar finally felt some peace at Jeremiah’s passing.
Thank you. Now, you said something about my circumstances?
‘Ah, yes dear. Well, suffice to say, I will be taking a bit more of a hands on approach in your development. I can’t always be hovering over your shoulder, but you will have much more contact with me than most elves. I can’t tell you much more than that, Amar, although I wish I could.’
Oh… Amar did not quite know how to respond when a God seemed apologetic. So she just tried to be as understanding as possible, to hide that.
It's completely alright. I look forward to speaking with you more, Selerys.
The Goddess’ incessantly pleasant laugh came out again.
‘Me too dear, me too.’
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As of today, the Frear Squadron was no more. From this moment on, under his command it would now be the Greatwood Squadron. For his contributions at Langst Harbor, Gregor had gotten a field promotion that looked likely to stick, after they cleared his background again.
Major Micah’s betrayal had cut deep, as he had literally slashed the Captains down to 1/8 of their number, forcing a desperate hunt for new candidates. As such, they were unlikely to find anyone to take over Gregor’s new post for quite some time, and as such, the new Major had just made it official instead.
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So, Gregor had been spending most of the day trying to get to know his new subordinates, and adjusting to becoming an authority figure. His first objective had gone alright, as he had introductions with the rest of the Squad that he hadn’t previously met formally, including Jerry, Larry, Aerie, Arasaka, Lucius and Sophia. Gregor of course knew that Logan and Amar were a part of this Squad, but after their roles in at Langst Harbor, they were being allowed to recover separately.
However, Gregor found himself failing at his second objective. From his brief interactions with his new Squad, he realized that they didn’t respect him, mostly because of his age. Sighing, Gregor realized what he was going to have to do.
This had happened to him before, when he had been directed to lead a fresh batch of guards under his father, the mayor’s order. Back then, he had been 14, and the grown men he had been placed in charge of took offense to that.
After the first day of his training, the vocal complaints had quieted to whispers around the fire. By the end of the second day, the guards had just methodically chewed their dinner and went to bed silently. Once the third day was over, several people quit, and the rest kept training through the night.
After two weeks, they had been among the most drilled guard teams in the town. Gregor’s methodology was simple. They would fight him, all at once, and they would lose. Then they would repeat those two steps over and over, until they started to figure out teamwork.
He was in the process of informing the Squad of that very routine, when the new Major approached. The Greatwood Squadron at least managed to snap a salute for their former Captain.
“At ease. Captain Greatwood, I’m sorry to postpone your training procedures, but I need Recruits Lucius and Sophia to accompany me.”
“Understood, ma’am. It's probably for the best that the recruits get another day of rest, I suppose. This training will push them.”
Major Frear smiled wildly.
“Good, this bunch could use it. I’ll send those two back with Recruits Logan and Amar, as well.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
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Logan ended up spending most of the day in that room just hanging out with Remy. It felt nice to just give his friend and companion attention for a day, rather than grind constantly. They couldn’t do most of Remy’s favorite activities because they were stuck inside, but it was still a good time for both of them.
Eventually though, Major Frear came back in, this time flanked by two other familiar faces. Lucius and Sophia flanked the Major, and neither of Logan’s Squadmates looked particularly pleased.
“Recruit Logan Brewer, as you were already in my squad under surveillance, and all of your actions have been deemed to be in the good of the Austen Kingdom, despite ample opportunity to turn coats, you are released back to your Squadron.”
Logan let out a sigh of relief, as the former-Captain continued.
“However, after this moment, and especially heading into the future, your actions will be more heavily monitored. These two have been personally directed by me to carry out this task, and will be occasionally reporting on your activities. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am, thank you ma’am.”
“Alright then, you two, escort him back to the barracks.”
With that, Major Frear turned and exited from whence she came, leaving the Squadmates alone in the singular room. Of all the members of the Frear Squadron, Logan was least familiar with these two. As they looked at him, Logan realized that may have been intentional, from their end.
“Ah, hi guys. Thanks for coming to pick me up.”
There was a moment where the Squadmates just stared at one another, before Lucius and Sophia both just shook their heads, almost in unison. Then they turned and walked out, gesturing for Logan to follow.
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As Logan walked several paces behind his Squadmates, he tried to pay attention to them, learn a bit about their mannerisms. That’s how he noticed their interactions.
At first, Logan was just looking at how they moved and such, but he quickly found his eyes drawn to their hands. Both Lucius and Sophia would make funny and strange hand motions as they swung their arms. It was silly enough that Logan tried, unsuccessfully, to hold in a giggle.
The two had looked back at him until Logan had looked ashamed, then furiously went back to making their hand movements. It was at this juncture, that Logan finally realized they were talking in some sort of sign language.
Of course, his realization was out loud, completely illuminating his stupidity to his Squadmates.
“Wait, are you guys talking in signs?”
Lucius and Sophia looked back at him with extremely exasperated looks. He could almost hear the ‘duh’, just from their eye contact. Logan felt the heat fill his cheeks.
“Can, uh… can either of you speak?”
They both gave him dead looks, and shook their heads slowly, before going back to turn around. Logan’s next question then took them off guard.
“Then, would it be possible for you to show me how to sign too?”
Their attention snapped back to Logan. Clearly, they hadn’t considered that he may have a desire to understand them after revealing he would have to work to do so. As they considered him, Logan saw something enter their eyes that made him happy. Appreciation.
Slowly, Sophia nodded her head, and then Lucius joined her. Logan flashed a genuine smile. Today had been hard, but being a part of the Frear Squadron was helping Logan day by day.