Callie and I woke up refreshed and energized. We'd been sleeping under the equivalent of a lead blanket for the last week, and just the sheer bliss of being able to breathe freely and easily was almost intoxicating as we greeted the day. We had to be back to the camp for the command tent meeting, which was thankfully after Revielle, so we didn't need to go back a night early and could have breakfast with Cass and Zeke, something we both enjoyed immensely.

"These parfaits are amazing." I told Callie as I dug into the cup of smooth, sweet yogurt, covered with granola, fresh fruit, and drizzled with delicious honey. "So the command tent meeting is at ten, right?" She paid more attention to that kind of thing than I did.

She let out a blissful sigh as she took her last bite. "The blackberries are so fresh it's crazy. This is so much better than the eggs and bacon from the mess hall. It's not bad, but it gets so old after a while. I wonder if we can have breakfast here every morning."

Zeke took a long sip of his coffee as Cass ravaged a plate of pancakes with strawberry syrup. "You totally should." She said through a stuffed gullet. "We could eat breakfast and hang out and and it would be so much fun."

"Cassidy." My uncle chided without looking over at her. "What did I say about talking with your mouth full?"

She paused, thinking it over. "To make sure I'm eating something that was pretty colors so people have something to look at? I am though, look my pancakes are red." She stuck out her tongue, exposing her chewed food, and I grimaced and looked away from the poor display of table manners.

Raising an eyebrow as he read the paper (I hadn't known Saltzberg even HAD a paper) he scoffed without looking. "And how many colors, might I ask, is red?"

Slumping, the ten year old swallowed her food with a pout. "Just one." Somehow that logic seemed unassailable to her, and she sulkily started gorging on her food again as Callie looked at her in confusion. I just chuckled, because I remembered similar conversations with Zeke as a kid. My uncle was surprisingly good with children, to the point that I wondered if he'd ever had any of his own.

That was one question I had never asked. If Zeke had kids, he didn't see them anymore, and I'd never heard him mention them. It was clearly either a non issue or a painful subject, and I'd never been cruel enough to bring it up in case it was the latter.

"I don't think every morning will be possible." I said apologetically. "It's too far from camp. We're already here, so we can make it since the trip is one way. If we had to COME here and then go back we'd be too late getting to the meetings, and we have to sleep in our new dorms except on weekends. Even officers aren't exempt from that."

Callie sighed as she stared longingly at her unfinished parfait, but eventually pushed out her chair. "We should probably get going then." She smirked at me gleefully. "We can make it to the camp with plenty of time given how quick we are, but showing up to our first command meeting at the last second won't exactly make the best impression. If we're going to be working with these people for the next four months it'll be best to make a good impression."

"I'm kind of worried about commanding a century of soldiers." I admitted as I stood up and shrugged on my coat. "Even with Camden's formations I'm scared I might get someone killed."

Zeke gave me a comforting smile. "Oh, don't worry about that." I waited for him to continue, but he just sat there smiling.

"Because..." I prompted. "I have a natural gift for command and will excel at being in charge of an army so they'll all be fine?"

"No." He said casually. "Because it's probably inevitable you'll get SOMEBODY killed, so there's no real point in psyching yourself up about it." At my glare, he just shrugged. "What? Do you know how many people manage zero casualties in command of their first battle?" After a pause, he prompted. "Well, do you? Because I have no idea, but I'm assuming the number is low."

I briefly considered flipping him off, but we had SOMEHOW managed to keep Cass from picking up the gesture despite the frankly gratuitous use it saw in the house, and she was sitting right here, so I just glared. "You are the literal opposite of helpful, do you know that?"

"Nah." He said in a dismissive tone. "I'm super helpful. You just can't recognize it yet. My amazing and flawless teaching style flies right over your immature heads. You'll look back on this time in your life for centuries, mining my every word for nuggets of priceless wisdom. Appreciate your elders, foolish children, for they will be gone too soon, and you will have no more wells of experience and practical advice to mine."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I pointed at his face. "You've got whipped cream on your chin."

"I know." He said spitefully as he wiped it off. "I was using it to underline my point. You're too easily distracted by the superficial. It'll spell your doom."

Callie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Zeke, even Cass can tell you just made that nonsense up, and she's TEN. Can we get going please? Because we have important places to be, and I can feel myself getting dumbed just sitting here listening to you two bicker about this."

"Good thing you don't need to worry about that happening to Shane." My uncle said snarkily. "I don't think he can get much dumber without his head literally imploding."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Cass, sweetie. Cover your ears for a minute. I have a few things to say to-"

"Nope." Callie grabbed me, dragging me away physically. "Not letting you get sucked in. He's trying to bait you because he's bored. It's obvious. How are you BOTH children when one of you is centuries old?" I couldn't help it, I started laughing as she dragged me away.

Zeke and I hadn't really teased each other much since this whole trip started. Not like we had when I was a kid. Talking about my dad the other day had been rough, but it seemed to have eased a tension with my uncle I hadn't even realized was there. Zeke was one of the most important people in my life, and since I found out about the geas, part of me had always felt like he'd been forced to be there for me.

Knowing he didn't hate my dad, despite my own anger at the man, it was a weight off my shoulders. If he didn't hate dad for putting him under the geas, then that meant he didn't feel burdened by it. Maybe I was reading too much into things, but it felt like I was right to feel like that. Like we were back to our old selves. Judging by the gleam of amusement in his eyes, Zeke felt that too, and I caught him shooting me a fond smile as I looked back.

Gripping my hand, I turned to see Callie smiling at me. "I'm glad you're happy." She said softly. "I hadn't even realized things were strained between you."

I shook my head. "They weren't really. It was just me being stupid. I pulled away from Zeke because I didn't want to burden him more than I had to. But it was a stupid way to look at things. He used to tell me 'Shane, family means never having to say thank you. It also means being able to say 'you're welcome' in a really passive aggressive voice when the other person doesn't.' I guess I forgot that."

She dissolved into giggles, and I cocked my head. "Sorry." She snorted between laughs. "It's just, that sounds SO MUCH like Zeke. You too, now that I think about it. I think you and Benny are a good example of that concept in action."

"I guess we are." I said with a laugh. "I can think of worse people to be like. Zeke might not always be in the right, but he cares about the people in his life." I trailed off, leaving any mention of my dad unsaid, and the hand around mine squeezed a bit tighter in comfort.

We walked in silence for the next five minutes or so, finally arriving at the camp. I wanted to drop our stuff in our new barracks, but I didn't know where it was, so we just headed for the building where the command meeting would be. I wondered if Hamill would be there, or if he was exempted for his training duties. Probably the latter given we'd seen him every day last week.

"Halt." Said a crisp voice. We both slid to a stop, turning to look at the towering figure of a man who stepped from the shadows. I'd noticed him, actually, but he'd been standing so still in full plate armor I thought he was a statue. I wondered if that was an unusual stealth application, of if he was just that easily overlooked. "Who goes there?"

Normally I'd have given a sarcastic response, but we WERE new, so saying it once didn't seem like it would be too out there. "Solomon and Nightstrike." I said plainly. "Newly minted century commanders. Our promotions just went through."

Reaching up, the man removed his helmet, a cascade of crimson hair flowing down his shoulders. There was a scar splitting his lip, neatly bisecting the left side of his well kept goatee, and it made him look like he had a permanent sneer. "Ah, the new bloods." He said in a dead sounding voice. I couldn't tell if he approved of us or wanted to roast us over an open flame with apples in our mouths.

"That's us." I agreed. "So can we...like, go in?" I gestured past him at the door he was blocking. "Don't want to be late for the meeting, do we?"

He blinked at me, cold blue eyes showing no emotion. "Lateness..." He trailed off. "Is unpleasant."

I waited for him to continue talking, but he seemed to have finished, stepping back to let us pass. "Right." I said slowly. "Big fan of punctuality. Good to know. You have a name, big guy?"

"Charles." He said succinctly. Real chatterbox, this one. Nodding to him, we stepped past him as he replaced his helmet and resumed his perfectly unmoving stance. I could see how we missed him before. He really did seem to just vanish into stillness. Looking at him was like seeing a statue. It was deeply unnerving now that I knew the person in that armor could move and interact.

We entered the command building, and everyone already there turned to look at us. I saw Camden and Alister standing over a map table covered in small models, and a group of E-rankers surrounding them. The other commanders, from what Camden had said, were all non-noble Jobs, mostly combat oriented. Barons didn't often work under other Barons, but other E-rankers were available for hire.

Camden looked up. "Ah, Solomon, Nightstrike. Lovely that you could join us. We were just about to start." He gestured for us to step up to the table, and we crowded around, staring down at...the tunnel he'd had me make. He shot us a wink as he began filling the others in on his secret digging crew and the months of work that went into its construction, and I had a hard time not snickering as everyone started complimenting his foresight. Finally, he finished up his explanation, and our first meeting as commanders started in earnest.