The watch

Danis's wounded arm hung in a sling. Citri had taken off her jacket so that Narcisa could cover her torso in bandages.

When Zemin left the captives—bandaged, fed, and organized in one place—to join the two, Narcisa immediately approached him and grabbed his chin.

She turned his head left and right, then probed Zemin's cheek with Psi-power. All the while, the woman completely ignored Zemin's blushing.

"I'm fine, I told you, Narcisa. Don't waste your strength on me! I will just wash the scrapes later." The words were muffled by Narcisa's hand.

"No point in accumulating scars prematurely, pretty boy. If you want to look like me, think again."

After saying this, Narcisa poured a good dose of antiseptic into the scratch. Zemin winced, but let her.

"It's somewhat deep, but not deep enough for stitches," Narcisa said. Much gentler than before, she dabbed the wound with a bit of cotton, then put a band-aid on top and finally let him go. "Anything else?"

"Nothing at all!"

Narcisa squinted. "And if I look?"

This time, Zemin gave the question a bit of thought. "Some bruises."

"Apply cold by yourself, then." Narcisa immediately lost interest in Zemin and went to sit between her supply bag and Citri.

"Everybody is still alive. That's good. No new cripples, either?" Jagger asked, joining the group. For a person of his height, he could be very quiet.

"Danis was very close to becoming one, but I put together the worst. The ability to move his hand will return… eventually."

"Great job, Narcisa."

"So will you tell us what the demon said, sergeant?" Danis asked with a glare at Zemin. "Tell us we didn't risk our skins for nothing."

"Don't you like your rating points? These demons were worth plenty," Zemin said, fighting to keep his voice even.

"Quiet! We saved innocent people, killed demons, AND advanced our task. If you want to discuss this more, then we will do it back at the base."

The squad fell into a tense silence. All eyes were on Jagger.

"Their new base is in a dimensional pocket. I got the coordinates out of him—without them, finding it would've been a nightmare. Infiltrating it would be nigh-impossible, so we will observe those who enter and exit from the outside. Now, I must report to the Exemplar Commander. Zemin, Narcisa—since you are the healthiest, bring the wagon and Citri's exo-suit here, then prepare to move the camp. We should leave this place before anyone stumbles on us."

"Yes, sir!"

Jagger went to make a protected call with the Exemplar base, while Zemin and Narcisa—mostly Zemin—got busy.

The wagon was in perfect state despite everything, but without Citri to carry it, Zemin had to become a mule himself and push it with telekinesis, while Narcisa kept watch over the camp.

At least in Glass Fields, Zemin could replenish his power without fear.

'I should come there later and open as many Void Portals as I can. Maybe when we will be watching the demon base?'

***

The group spend the night at a safe distance from the Glass Fields. Next morning, they walked to the nearby road, where a truck guarded by a squad of Soldiers was waiting for them. At the sight of approaching people, the Soldiers reached for their weapons at first—but immediately relaxed after seeing uniforms of an Exemplar and Esquires.

"Greetings, Exemplar Jagger! You and your people are just on time. I'm sergeant Maynerd Duran, here to take all who need it back to civilization." Duran flashed a smile before turning serious again. "We brought extra supplies with us, too, as you requested."

Jagger saluted back. "Good job, Soldier. I hope you have a cable—you will have to tow our wagon." He turned to his group. "Citri, Danis, the mission ends for you here—"

"Sergeant!" Danis cut in. "Sergeant, I request permission to keep going. I don't need a hand to be effective."

Jagger thought for a moment. "Narcisa, I need your opinion here."

She gave Danis an unimpressed look. "Sure. If he wants to end up without an arm entirely because he strained it too much and all my hard work with nerves fell apart. He needs a proper surgical theater, not fieldwork."

"Narcisa…" Danis hissed.

"Shush. I do my job. My only job—keeping you all as alive and whole as possible. Or do you want to end up like the lovebirds?"

This shut him up. Meanwhile, Zemin looked between them in confusion—what lovebirds were they talking about?

"I will tell you about it when you get back home, Zemin. To the barracks, I mean!" Citri whispered, leaning on Zemin's shoulder for support. "We didn't know these two for long, but… Death is always ugly."

She let go, leaving behind only the imprint of her warmth, and joined the saved civilians.

"Danis goes back. No protests," Jagger said.

The scout could only obey.

Soon after, the truck drove back to the civilization, while Jagger, Zemin and Narcisa went back to the Glass Fields—by foot. After several hours, they drew close to the coordinates of the demon base, while still staying in the area where grass and trees hid their presence.

There, the group dug out a hiding trench, masking it with tree branches. Jagger gave out the watching shifts, everybody got out their binoculars, and they began watching what was essentially an empty spot.

Watching.

And watching.

And watching some more.

It wasn't even Zemin's shift, but he still watched. Narcisa was asleep, but he was too restless for it. He couldn't open Void Portals here, either—he was too close to his teammates for them to not notice anything.

A black dot of a bird flew over the empty blue sky over the Glass Plains.

Zemin watched how it disappeared without a trace.

The demon base really was there, so he had to continue watching.

And watching.

And watching some more.

His mind became blank, almost as when during meditations. Zemin was only eyes.

He saw a group of demons step out from thin air and walk over the Glass Plains.