Comrades

Zuret ran Rosi, Rebellion-Held Aviye

Amri

The march back to base took them well past the dawn.

Amri was grateful to be carried, since she was still dressed in a professional, albeit bloodstained, white shirt and pencil skirt. Her coat and shoes had been tossed out the back of the truck by the officer escorting her to make sure escape would be even harder. Thankfully, the Nightravens provided her with a pair of boots stolen from one of her captors and a jacket taken from one of their own dead.

Unlike the Kingdom forces, there was no nametag, so Amri had to ask whose jacket she was wearing. The girl's name had been Sh'zi, and she was from the village the group would pass through, and formerly the Nightraven's medic.

Amri was surprised to be rescued by a squad that was mostly women. The Kingdom and the Hegemony only let women serve outside of combat, with rare exceptions, but the rebels famously practiced equality in their ranks, and so both of their enemies had been often frustrated by failing to see women as capable threats.

Very little was said during the march, the six soldiers keeping their alertness raised as they trudged along the roads, taking muddy side trails under the trees when aircraft were spotted or came within hearing range. Those moments were the most tense, and one time, they sprinted as artillery fell nearby.

At last, however, a small village came into sight, and it was then that the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief as they quickened their pace.

The sign before the road went from gravel to paved read Zuret-ran-Rhosi, and they were met at the gates by an old matriarch of a woman, with a wide figure and clever eyes.

"Hurry up," the woman called out. "We just got word an inspection will be coming through. I had the boys go make mud down the road, but it won't buy you much time."

Captain Zai paused at the gate to respond. "Thank you, Auntie... I'm sorry, but Sh'zi was..."

The old woman's clever eyes widened, growing sad. It took a long moment for her to speak again, and Amri felt her understanding. "She knew the risks... I'll let her parents know. Was it quick?"

"Yes." Zai said grimly.

"Good... good..." she raised a shaking hand to her forehead.

Amri slipped out of the jacket. "Here... this was hers. I know we couldn't bring back much, but... I want her parents to know I'm grateful to her... she died rescuing me..." Amri reached with the jacket, offering it to the woman.

"And who are you?" the matriarch challenged.

"I'm-"

Captain Zai interrupted. "She's a valuable spy. Very high placed. I can't tell you more than that." Amri bit her lip, uncomfortable with the situation but knowing that the lie was necessary to keep the village safe.

The old lady eyed Amri hard, and it was all she could do to keep eye contact. "I hope you are worth it." she gestured fiercely, waving Captain Zai past to catch up with the squad.

They'd given up their formation for a more casual walk through the village, the old lady, Lorn, had picked up a couple of children who were riding on her shoulders as she chatted happily with them. A couple approached, and Amri was surprised again when she saw that they weren't a couple, but just two people walking together.

They split up to embrace their paramours, the woman hugging and kissing a tall woman Zai identified as Kalee, the Chief's niece, while the man picked up and kissed Ezyr. These civilians accompanied them for a short while, talking mostly to their companions, and Amri kept quiet and watched in fascination.

"Not used to seeing us treated as normal people, eh?" Captain Zai spoke quietly as they passed the village center and started walking by the fields of rice.

"I'm not judging your men, ah, people... or you, Captain."

"The Nightravens are a special squad. All of us are... outside the norms you might be used to."

"The rebels segregate people like that?"

Zai chuckled. "No, no. Not at all. Back when the Sunrise Sword started that was true, but not now... No, the Nightravens are like this for tradition more than anything else. When we had numbers, we used to help out people like us in the heartland. Getting city folks to safety, protecting the people who once spoke for us, but now we fight, the same as any other squad."

Amri nodded. The Kingdom's anti-corruption laws had once been grossly abused to oppress people like Zai and her squad. Anyone in a position of power who didn't fit the norm had been weeded out. Not killed, just fired, arrested, denied promotions. "What changed?"

"The Hegemony got smarter. They leaned on King Adbehld until he changed the laws. Suddenly, people like us could afford to stay with the Kingdom. They could afford to turn a blind eye to their own exploitation and participate in being servants of the Hegemony."

"Some would call that equality." Amri said.

Zai let out a puff of air through her nose. "Don't tell me you believe that nonsense. There has been no equality in Aviye in thirty years."

"I... am not sure. It's all I've ever known," Amri admitted.

Zai looked at her. "How old are you, Doctor?"

"Twenty seven, in two months."

Zai burst out laughing. "Old Gods, you're a Doctor at your age?"

Amri blushed, her tan skin doing little to hide it given how pale she was compared to the Captain. "I was very dedicated to my research..." She hadn't even had a proper relationship.

"Ah yes. Ascendant Studies. Trying to delve into the secrets of the gods," Zai chuckled.

Amri got defensive. "They're not gods. They're mortals who have..."

"Calm yourself, Doctor. I am just teasing. If I thought they were gods, I wouldn't be fighting them." She smirked, which was a bit infuriating to Amri because it meant she got played. "I went to college. I know what people in Ascendant Studies are like. Half of them are just power fanatics and the other half..."

"The other half want to find the truth. Why can some humans achieve apotheosis while others can't? What is the science behind their defiance of science."

"I was going to say the other half are historians."

"Ascendant Studies has come a long way! There's an entire material science division dedicated just to making equipment they can use. Not to mention phenomenological physics, cynosural cultivation studies-"

"But no studies in a sense of humor?" Zai jabbed. "I'm two years older than you, and I've been fighting for seven years. I don't even have one grey hair." She pointed with her free arm at Amri's head.

"What!?" Amri started checking her shoulder-length hair, only stopping when Zai's laughter grew too much to bear. "That's not funny!"

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to see what you were really like, now that we aren't near the front."

"And?"

"And I think you're just like I was. You buried your eyes until you found something you couldn't avoid seeing. And when you had to decide, you chose what was right over what was convenient... just took you longer."

Knowing the Captain understood her situation was enough for Amri to forgive the teasing. "What did you see, if I may ask?" Amri tried to keep eye contact with Captain Zai, which was a little difficult with the amount of bouncing her frame did.

Zai looked up a bit as she continued to walk. "I saw, well, I learned what Aviye was really like... back when it was the Aviye Republic. I wasn't very smart with this knowledge though. I wrote article after article arguing for democracy and merit in government offices, industry, education... Because I wanted to change things from the inside, I got accused of being corrupted by the Revolution, and the Sunrise Sword. It took almost catching a bullet to see there was no appetite for change, so now here I am..."

"A soldier with the Sunrise Sword."

"A soldier... but not an idiot."

"Not an idiot like me, you mean..."

"Doctor, I believe when we started this conversation you said you wouldn't judge my people."

"I'm sorry-"

"That includes you, Doctor. The moment you resolved to oppose the Kingdom and the Hegemony, you became one of us. The rest is on us to provide you with the right education." Zai gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "None of us started knowing just how bad things really are, and that's as true for you as it is for the world."

Amri found herself tearing up. Perhaps it was the stress of her capture and rescue, the knowledge that she had burned her entire life to escape with one terrible truth, or the fact that Captain Zai was treating her as a friend despite the deaths of two of her people, but she felt a gratitude that couldn't come out in words alone.

She'd spent most of her life blind to the simplest fact that everything, especially the system of education she'd once sheltered in, was political. The fact that she'd been allowed so close to the current Ascendant of Lightning had been a show. She would never have been allowed to make the truth known, and to go any further had necessitated she be brought to Norwite, even when it meant she would have to be abducted.

"Captain Zai... I need to tell you what I know."

"Hold on to that. If you really want to join us, it might be wiser for you to keep that card closer to your chest and let someone in leadership decide, not a squad commander."

"Who delivers the truth isn't important. I want you to know because... they're going to come after me. The planes..."

"Are looking for you, I know. That means they've already found the ambush site."

"Not just the planes. I met the Ascendant Lightning, I know what she's like. This whole war is just a game to her. Thirty years of fighting and in less than a year, she alone has started turning the tide against you..."

"Enough. I understand."

She understood wrong. "No, you don't understand! If I tell you now, maybe... maybe we can start trying to find someone sooner. Someone who can stop her." Amri raised her voice, drawing the attention of the squad.

Zai looked to them before waving Lorn over. "I'm sorry, Doctor, I'll need you to stand somewhere else while I confer."

Amri hopped off the hand of the frame and stomped over to the edge of the rice field, staring out over the waters. She was surprised when a fish swam up to her, inspecting the little cloud of dirt she'd caused.

The Captain and her number one talked in hushed voices for a while, before finally Amri was called back. She returned to find the rest of the squad gathering around her.

"Doctor Jeng, after some discussion... I accept your offer to share what you know, once we arrive at our base. We're almost there, so you'll have plenty of time to figure out what you're going to say..." Zai looked at her with determined eyes and took a deep breath. "Not everyone that comes to our side has the courage to throw away everything. I promise that even if our leadership doesn't recognize the value of what you have, I, and the Nightravens, will support you." She offered her hand. "Comrades?"

Amri took it without hesitation, squeezing tightly.

"Comrades."