Young Writers Society

Author's Notes: 1,850 words.   Iiiiii'm just going to pretend I never wrote this. >.>

“I would like to begin this emergency meeting by welcoming Terasu back to the generals’ table,” Alarick said, standing and pressing his palms into the table. “It is good to see she’s in good enough health to join us.”

Some mild applause, mostly from Jonathan, Madeleine, and Ceinen; everyone else nodded or stayed still. Terasu placed her feet on the table, leaning back and allowing her hair to hide her face. From the opposite side of the table, Eremia could see the inklings of a frown, which was nothing like the scowl that Latton bore as he looked down on his mistress. It was hard not to mimic their scowls, but Eremia had to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong, so pursuing any rivalry was pointless.

“We’ve made decent progress,” continued Alarick. “We should be at the border in the next few days. It will then be easy enough to skirt the Confederacy’s edge until we arrive at The Pillars.”

Jonathan raised a hand. “The raiders?” he asked, surprisingly bitter.

Frowning, Alarick nodded. “Good of you to point out,” he said in a weakly approving tone (the most Eremia felt he could muster). “As is our policy, we’ll come to the aid of anyone that should be attacked by them, but we will not engage them first without due cause. Does everyone approve of this?”

“Shouldn’t we at least scare them off by attacking them first?” asked Terasu. “It will be a nice exercise for the useful generals.” Terasu glared at Eremia, who ignored her by watching for Alarick’s reaction.

“We have trained enough,” Alarick replied in a bitter tone. “We don’t need a refresher on how to murder.”

Terasu made a crude gesture and looked away. As she could now see Latton, he instantly removed his frown with a neutral expression.

For a few seconds, Alarick attempted a strangling motion, but caught himself upon seeing everyone begin to rise from their chairs. “Our last note,” he said after taking a deep breath, “Is the sudden and unapproved recruiting of a new hand by the efforts of our newest general-in-training.”

While Terasu snorted, Eremia stiffened in fear. Had he had second thoughts?

“He has no interest in working for payment, and he seems competent. I leave it to Madeleine to help him choose a position among us.”

Eremia breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“That’s all I should like to say. Terasu, I want you to stay, so that we may have a conversation on your health.” Alarick slumped into the chair behind him.

“I’m fine,” retorted Terasu as the others stood up. She distinctly glowered at Alarick as she sat, wisps of fire appearing around her head and singing the edges of her chair. “I just think we’re being weak.”

Pinching his nose, Alarick sighed. “Compromise keeps us stable, so we’ll have to work something out if you find that your plans differ from ours.” When Jonathan took a few steps away from the seats, Alarick also called out, “We’ll also have to talk tonight about your new training, Jonathan.”

Jonathan, facing away from Alarick, stiffened temporarily and made fists, marching off and disappearing among the wave of tents. Unwilling to listen to a potentially violent and angry conversation, Eremia followed Jonathan, feeling dread sink into her stomach. As tranquil as ever, Yorew kept pace with her.

"Jonathan!" Eremia called out. She almost stumbled over something; looking down, she saw him laying on the ground, staring up at the sky. She stood over him, partly blocking his vision; he shifted his gaze away from her in response. "What does he mean by your 'training'?"

"He wants a successor," Jonathan replied, placing his hands behind his head and watching a passing cloud.

"Were you always supposed to be?" said Eremia, sitting down beside him and following his gaze. Yorew disappeared after a few seconds. Eremia suspected he was heading in the direction of the hospital tent. She wondered if he thought he’d be useful elsewhere, or if he trusted Jonathan enough to leave her with him.

Jonathan closed his eyes. "No. I'm his backup."

Eremia tried to speak, but she had the sudden and terrifying realization that she already knew who the original had been. "Do you - want it?" she asked, too surprised to think of it as a stupid question until he replied to it.

"I’m not a leader," Jonathan said, looking at Eremia coldly. "I don't want to be him."

This had been the longest conversation they'd ever had about his feelings. Eremia blushed and jumped out of the way as Jonathan stood up. "You'll have to do your own work," Jonathan continued, pausing to take a long breath. "We'll go to Madeleine and get her permission."

She nodded weakly, and they walked off. Eremia felt like an idiot for having asked a question whose answer had been written all over his face. The romantic inside of her screamed angrily that she'd damaged the bridge between them. The rest of her wasn't sure what to say. He was normally so impassive and quiet that his aura and charm bled out into his surroundings - his mystique was the infinite words in his silence. His showing emotion was new and frightening, especially in his willingness to lash out. It was understandable, she knew, but it was hard to keep close to him as they made their way through the camp. She was afraid that he’d snap again. Normally, she didn't care much for angering anyone, but he was something of a special case.

He didn't say another word until they arrived at the tent. Madeleine, exasperated, stood at the front, and her face brightened as she saw Eremia. "Oh, good! I believe you know how to rein them in better than I do," Madeleine said as she pulled Eremia close and dragged her into the tent before Jonathan could say a word. Eremia saw him standing patiently, though sulking and staring at the ground, as she entered the tent.

Madeleine directed her first to a bed. Iasquam and Aquila sat on opposite sides, shouting phrases in the Old Languages. They were related tongues, but Eremia had a hard time imaginging the birds understood each other. Maybe that wasn’t the point. Both, in their respective hawk and eagle half-forms, were furious, and Eremia had the suspicion that Aquila, who was carrying most of the conversation, was speaking in curses. She wished she had studied the eagle’s Old Language more – she knew nothing beyond basic phrases.

Aquila flapped his wings on sighting Eremia, beginning to speak in the eagle’s Old Language. He shrunk back and corrected himself. "Did you bring him to us?"

Iasquam turned his head to Eremia, nodding respectfully. "I thought that it would be a good idea to make our new arrival another reconnaissance man," whispered Madeleine into Eremia's ear, "but Aquila thinks that he's losing his job."

"Is that all?" Eremia asked, pulling back her hair. "That should be easy."

Madeleine coughed uncomfortably. Slowly turning around, Eremia saw her point towards another corner of the tent, where Yorew was overseeing a pale-looking patient. Ceinen stood next to him, holding the jar and opening it at random intervals. Each time, Yorew would take a few steps in the opposite direction, frowning a bit deeper each time. For his part, Ceinen was fuming, stamping a hoof and pointing his antlers at Yorew.

"I have a feeling it may be your problem," said Eremia. Madeleine paled, but Eremia turned towards the first dispute.

Both heads watched her as she jumped onto the bed between them, pointing at Aquila. "You are fine,” she said. "If you were not working for her, I would happily recruit you myself."

"But he has swords!" mumbled Aquila, not looking her in the eyes. The claws on his feet tore holes in the blankets. "And, uh, maybe I'm not g-"

"What of it?" Eremia said assertively. "As you are smaller, I should think you would fly faster. You have no need to worry about yourself." She swiveled around to point at Iasquam, index finger inches from his face. "And you had no reason to answer his paranoia."

"I was telling him to leave," Iasquam replied. "He barged into my conversation with your commander, having heard of my arrival, and wouldn't leave me be."

Eremia clambered off the bed. "You should not have answered him at all, but left him to me. Go off, Aquila, and let him speak to Madeleine."

Sighing, Aquila jumped off the bed, shredding its side. "Maybe I'm only fine to you because you haven't looked close enough," he whispered, before flying through the entrance to the tent.

She would deal with him later, she decided. Heading over to Yorew and Ceinen, she was disappointed to find that Madeleine had done nothing. Ceinen was still being spiteful, and Yorew seemed not far from barfing.

"Just tell Ceinen to stop," Eremia said quietly, taking a position beside Madeleine, who was clenching her hands together and shaking.

"I can't," Madeleine said, shaking her head.

Stamping her foot, Eremia said, "Should it really be that hard?" Her thoughts immediately veered towards Jonathan, whom she had forgotten about in all of the excitement. It would be hard to say "no" if he were doing something like Ceinen was, particularly as Jonathan always had a reason for everything. She would happily say “no” to Jonah, but he was her brother. Eremia paused, thinking up a good response. "Do you love either of them?" she asked, almost too loudly.

"Stop!" Madeleine shouted to Yorew and Ceinen. They both ceased, Ceinen looking to her in a panic. "Don't you have better things to do?"

Eremia didn't feel in the mood to hear the response, so she walked back to the entrance to bring in Jonathan.

She found him still sulking, and he put up no resistance as she pulled him into the tent, seconds after Iasquam finished talking to Madeleine and flew off.

"What's this for?" Madeleine asked, eyes shifting between Eremia and Jonathan. A faint smile lurked in the shadow of her agitated and frustrated face, the latter shown by the way her face twitched and she stamped a foot on the floor.

"Can she work on her own now?" Jonathan said, just barely raising his voice to indicate he was asking a question. His hair fell over his eyes as he spoke, but his monotone voice and frown gave his mood away. "I'm busy."

Madeleine put a finger to her forehead and sighed. "That idiot," she mumbled. Her words then returned to their normal strength. "Yes," she said, "just see to it that she's properly trained. I believe whatever head injury she's had is gone, but the symptoms may show up again in the next few weeks."

Eremia nodded. "So long as I can train."

"Yes - as long as he doesn't bonk your head with a wooden sword or something like that, you'll be fine." Madeleine wiped her brow, the color slowly returning to her face. She waved them off towards the entrance, saying, "Don't train too hard or too long, alright?" The smile grew wider.

When they came back into the light of the sun, Eremia spread her arms out and breathed in deeply. "If I can find Aquila, I will see to his well-being. If Iasquam trains me in the morning, would you teach me after sunset?"

Jonathan shook his head, dust cascading onto Eremia's shoulder. She brushed it off. He stood further away from her. "My sessions are in nights. How about the evening?"

The romantic inside Eremia shouted with delight. She restrained that inner voice with a gracious smile. "That will do."

As Jonathan started to walk away, she reached out and touched him on the shoulder. He turned around. "You will be fine," Eremia muttered, blushing. "And - and I love you, so you know."

He stiffened and paled. For once, he looked at a loss for words; Eremia withdrew, fighting with her sense of embarrassment as she waited for his response. "Thanks," he said at last, drawing back some of his hair. "I feel the - the same. You've been honest, and decent."

Smiling awkwardly, he swiveled back around and disappeared among the tents. Eremia's elation was only broken by a dagger of anxiety. Had she said the wrong thing? Had she been presumptuous about his feelings? Her own? She dismissed it, even if she could hear the voice of Terasu somewhere in the background, arguing with Alarick. Terasu hadn't noticed, which Eremia was perfectly content with.

Eremia most worried about Terasu. Jonathan and Terasu had been old friends; that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Perhaps Terasu thought of him as a sibling, but Eremia feared that wasn't accurate. Terasu had already lost Rowland, so who else could there be for her? When it came to Terasu, Eremia had no interest in making an enemy. Yet this romance made sense to Eremia. Besides, Eremia was going to go home, so it was bound to be fleeting. What was the worst that could happen?

Quite a lot, her mind recognized, but she chose not to think about it.