Orders

The Nest, Rebellion-Held Aviye

Amri

In the dark of the bunker, Amri dreamed.

She'd spent some time talking with Zai about the right way to meditate, working around her shifting understanding as she tried to get the concept of an empty mind across to her. Eventually they settled on working through the physical techniques, until she was certain the Captain had the right form and pattern, before laying down to sleep.

Now she dreamed they were meditating together, in her office back at the capital. Side by side, peacefully, until a thundercrack drew her attention and she was in a military truck. The she was being brought before a tall, thin old man in a black Hegemon uniform. "Is this the one?"

"Yes, General," the soldier holding her arm shoved her forward.

The General turned towards the man next to him, the same officer from the truck she'd been rescued from. "You are right, she is a bit... difficult. But there's something there." He looked away, past Amri, and beckoned someone towards him with four fingers of his right hand.

Amri was grabbed from behind. An intimate embrace where someone's slender hands came up, one wrapping around her throat while the other held her at the waist. She felt it now, the overwhelming sense of presence and power... and hunger...

"Oooh, this one knows to stay hidden." The Second Ascendant of Lightning purred into her ear. "She's definitely the source of all those morsels you brought me..." The woman drew her hand down from Amri's neck to right above her heart...

"That's enough, Warrant Officer. We're taking her back to the homeland, so your work here is done."

The woman at Amri's back made a disappointed sound and released her, shoving her forward. Amri turned as she stumbled, getting a look at the woman she'd been "invited" to meet. Suddenly the woman rushed at her. She beheld a purple, devouring flash of light-

Amri awoke to the sounds of chaos. She dressed quickly, not into her clothes from last few days but rather a blue tunic and pants that the Captain had given her, tied at the waist with a sash of undyed silk, trying to ignore the cold sweat covering her as she laced up her new boots. The plan was to have her dressed as a villager, in case they needed to hide her down the line, and once she had her hair in a simple tail, she certainly looked the part. Finding the Captain gone, she slid out into the common room.

The soldiers were rushing about, trading a teapot and drinking from it directly as each grabbed what they needed, before rushing to the entrance. Before she could work up the courage to ask what was happening, the last three soldiers ducked out, leaving her with Sergeant Lorn.

"Coffee?" she asked, offering the teapot.

"I'm quite alright..." Amri replied, "Where's Captain Zai?"

Sergeant Lorn had wasted no time drinking the last of the coffee as soon as it was rejected. She lowered it and answered, "Off being a hero. We're heading out ahead of her."

"Ahead? So we're just abandoning her?"

"We're following orders. Besides, inspection teams never have heavies this far out. She can get away." The sergeant reached down, pulling up a small pack and shoving it into Amri's grip. "That's yours. Let me know if it's too heavy." She turned for the exit, turning off the light switch.

"I'm sorry... I still don't know what's happening." Amri said as she followed her. She stepped outside and immediately started coughing from the smell of smoke.

"The village we passed through yesterday is under attack. The smoke is from there. Captain's gone back to try to help, and we won't catch up to her on foot, so we're going ahead to wait."

The soldiers had gathered in two loose lines, and Amri saw everyone loaded up with as much gear as they could carry. The Captain's frame was gone, and Amri had trouble even remembering where it had once stood given how thoroughly everything had been turned back into simple forestland. She slid her comparatively light backpack on, looking at Sergeant Lorn with worry. "Sergeant I..."

"Your spot is in the middle," she pointed, indicating that Amri would be between everyone. "You two," she pointed at Eisaf and Ezyr, "get the door covered." The pair of men hurried to obey, grabbing a large mesh of leaves that Amri hadn't even recognized as different from the forest floor and moving to close the entrance behind Amri before tossing it over the pallet. Then they started kicking on leaves to add further concealment.

"That's not what I meant... Are you sure we shouldn't be helping the Captain?"

"I'm sure we don't have the time in this case. It's more important we get you to Command, because unlike you, she's expendable, same as the rest of us." Eisaf and Ezyr rejoined the formation, brushing their hands on their green uniforms.

Amri felt dissonance rise up as everyone else nodded and muttered their agreement with the Sergeant. Like she was the only insane person amidst people who found their own deaths perfectly reasonable. "I gave you all what I know so that I wouldn't be necessary."

"And how many of us do you think are qualified to teach what you know?" Lorn shot back. "I know my people, and I know that even with what you told us, even if the Captain were here and not you, we'd all muck it up trying. You are the teacher for this. Not us. At least not until we find the time for you to train us. So we're going, and you can either walk or be carried." Sergeant Lorn's tone made it clear the time for arguing was over.

Amri looked away from her intense gaze, before stomping into the middle of the formation. The understanding she'd felt from the woman was hard, unflinching, and entirely certain. In other words, she could not be convinced. Not by Amri, who despite being a doctor had the least authority of anyone in the squad. She didn't know why it was frustrating to not have Zai around, but without her here, she felt far less safe.

"Nightravens, move out." Sergeant Lorn ordered, and the march began.

For long, long minutes, the only sound Amri heard was breathing and the crunch of leaves.

She had plenty of time to think. To contemplate her own incompetence when it came to prioritizing what was important versus what she wanted. Objectively, Captain Zai was expendable.

Objectively, Sergeant Lorn was right. She was no Meaist scholar, but she knew enough to recognize that by her teachings, everyone here knew what part they played in the greater whole of the Sunrise Sword, and its ambitions to see the equal world that the Hegemon Nations denied.

Amri didn't know why, but from talking with Zai, and learning just a bit more about what people under the Kingdom were increasingly forbidden from studying, she felt that she needed the Captain to teach her how to understand people like her squad.

The understanding she felt from people outside of academia was so different, direct and relational instead of complex and theoretical, but still approaching complexity in ways that she hadn't yet felt.

The Captain was her best example of this, resting right between the softness of theory and the hardness of experience. The village leader was similar, but not as hardened. Sergeant Lorn was also similar to the Captain, but with an exceeding hardness that Amri found off-putting.

Lost in her thoughts, Amri didn't notice the children until the squad had halted.

Five children rushed to meet the squad at the entrance to the woods.

They were out of breath and scared. Sergeant Lorn and some of the others stepped forward to help, giving them water from their canteens until one, the oldest looking, started to talk.

"H-help. We need help. They took everyone... They started burning everything..." The girl was stained with dirt and leaves, her hair matted.

"Shh, it's alright. You're safe." Ezyr said. "Our Captain is going to deal with them. Your parents will be safe."

Sergeant Lorn was less kind. "Did you see a soldier run by in a frame? A woman?"

The girl shook her head. "We ran into the woods... we didn't see anyone. Mama tried to get all the kids, but then they got her and... and..." the girl started crying.

Amri came over and gave the girl a hug. "You were very brave. What's your name?"

"M-Maya."

"Maya... it's okay. You can rest now." Amri shifted forward, picking up the girl and holding her against her chest. Four of the others had already done so with the younger children.

"Sergeant... Maybe we should go help the village..." Ezyr said.

Amri felt Lorn's armor crack. The hardness in her mind now bearing a sense of pain.

"No, Ezyr. We have to keep going. Captain's orders."

"What about the kids?" Amri raised her voice.

"We'll take them with us. That's the best we can do."

Maya sobbed, making a sad noise. It didn't take Amri's gift to know that she knew what the Sergeant meant, but cared too much for the other children, and was too scared, to protest.

Amri wished there was a better way... but that was her responsibility now. To make one.