The leading elements of the 1st Mounted Guards had returned to friendly lines after they dispatched the Gotorans and their artillery guns. Alexei and his retinue of riders had entered the town to find the tanks, motorized, and mechanized vehicles parked in the streets. Men in green and grey uniforms busied themselves in the matter of maintenance or speaking with the local Gotorans. His arrival did not go unnoticed as the tank crews and the mechanized infantry turned their heads at the sound of hooves galloping on the pavement.

Out from their number was a man in a greatcoat and peaked cap that approached him. "Comrade Alexei, you have returned from your trip. How was it?"

The officer nodded his head. "We were able to destroy the Gotoran guns, but its a pity we didn't have any armored support."

"The resistance wasn't as bad, was it?"

He shook his head. "They were vulnerable, but we've managed." Then he began to change the conversation, "Where is Colonel Akhrosimov? I need to report to him, immediately."

The officer pointed his finger at a building ahead of him. It was positioned in the corner and the front appeared to be a tavern of sorts. "The command staff is over there, probably getting drunk as we speak or busy on the radio."

"Thank you," Alexei looked over his shoulder to see his men, "Let's go."

They trotted their horses over to the corner building and dismounted from their beasts; however, the cavalry captain gestured his men to remain where they were as he made his way to the entrance. When he entered the building, the bar was almost empty, save for an older man with a grey mustache hunching over the bar, his hairs greyed by stress and age. Beside him was his signaler with a radio set placed in front of him, manning his post while several half-full glasses were within an arm's reach. The sound of the door closing was enough to make the old man turn and spin in his chair to see him as he combined his mustache. "Comrade-captain, you've returned. Did you destroy the guns?"

"Yes, Colonel Akhrosimov. I've done what you've asked."

"Casualties?" He demanded.

He paused at that moment to recall the number, but he remembered in an instance. "Twenty-three wounded, no major injuries. There was no serious resistance from the enemy."

His head nodded in approval. "Good, it means that we will return back to the fatherland in the morning before the Gotorans seek vengeance."

There was one slight detail that Alexei needed to tell to his superior. "Sir, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"We found prisoners of war, they're from the republic."

"Republic POWs? Are you sure?" He said inquisitively.

The captain reached into his greatcoat and approached the colonel. His hand pulled out several crumpled notes and handed it over to the colonel. "They were going to bring them to the capital in the hundreds."

Akhrosimov slipped out of his chair as he straightened out the papers to read them as best as he could. Then his face grimaced at the contents. "We do not have the carrying capacity to bring them with us. Either we have to dismount and march alongside our vehicles for their sake or they walk," His head looked up at him, "How's their health?"

Alexei shook his head. "The Gotorans didn't feed them well."

The signaller at his radio had turned around and spoke. "General Kuragin is waiting."

He stole a glance at the radio before returning his full attention. "Go back to your company, get your men to bring your prisoners to this town at once. I'm going to see what I can do from my end."

Not a word was needed as the captain snapped his boots together and saluted him. "Understood, comrade-colonel."

When Akhrosimov returned the very same gesture, he made his way out of the building. As he stepped out, his men were standing beside their horses.

"Mount up, we need to return with the others."

Alexei felt like shit that morning.

The amount of Joja soda and junk food that he and the agent ate that night was too much to bear. Part of him wanted to berate himself for having that much, but they needed that "energy" in order to bury that body in the middle of the desert. He sluggishly sat up from his bed and looked around to see that his house was now full of packages from home. At the center of it all, he saw Kaevink sleeping on the floor before the television. It had been on since last night.

He slipped out of bed and immediately changed into a new pair of pants from his drawers before he walked over to the sleeping agent and gave him a little nudge with his foot. "Agent Caullinski, wake up."

His head bobbed up and down as he frantically looked at his surroundings. "Captain, what level did I make it to?"

Alexei glanced at the television and saw the menu with a little hammer ready to smash 'Save' in the selection screen. "Hell if I know, but I think you've played enough."

"What time is it?" He asked as he slowly sat up and yawned to the top of his lungs.

He brought his watch to eye level and looked at the time. "Around noon."

"I hate to say this, but I really don't want to get up."

The farmer bent his legs and squatted beside him. "You can stick around if you want, but give me a call next time your passing by."

"Sure thing," Kaevink replied, "but is there a place I can munch at?"

"The Stardrop has some spaghetti if you want any."

"Damn, it does sound nice. I'll pass around when I feel like it, but why are you getting ready?"

The former cavalry officer walked up to one of his drawers to find a fresh pair of shirts. "I need to go to the nearby shop. Pierre might have a fresh stock of seeds for me."

The agent rolled onto his back. "Go ahead, I'll lay about here for a while."

Alexei finished his preparations as he walked out of the house and closed the door on his current guest. As he looked around, the farm was doing surprisingly well as he made his way towards the edge of his home. However, he recognized several people waiting at the entrance. He approached them and was quick to acknowledge their arrival. "Sam, what are you doing here?"

The young man jumped up in surprise as he, Abigail, and a third member of their group turned their heads. "Hi, I know it's all of a sudden, but my friends and I wanted to hang out at your farm. It's just that we need your permission."

He crossed his arms. "Okay, why can't you hang out at the saloon or anywhere else?"

The blue-haired girl managed to drum up a reason. "You see, Sam, Sebastian, and I are in a band. The problem is that we don't have much of a place to practice and the rest of the town usually doesn't want to hear us play."

Oh, it finally made sense now that she was explaining it to him. "I see and my farm is far away enough not to annoy anyone else, but good enough to get any songs made."

"Yeah, we would appreciate it.

Alexei considered his options. Part of him wanted to state that it would distract him from work, but another part of him also pointed out that the silence was also killing him as well. It's hard to pass the time with nothing, but the trees and the wildlife. He turned his full attention on Sam. "You three can play your music here," Then he glanced at his house, reminded by the republic agent inside, "Just to give you all a heads up, I have a guest inside, and if he starts asking you can tell him I am okay with it."

The trio smiled at his decision. "Thank you, Alexei. We won't cause too much trouble."

They walked past him as they began to inspect the surrounding countryside as the farmer continued his way into the town.

Harvey entered his apartment and took off his doctor's coat. He had managed to make it through the day after he checked up on the people who had appointments in his clinic. The first thing he wanted to do was sit on his couch and watch a bit of television… which he eagerly did so with delight. After he grabbed his remote and turned it on, the news was the first to get his attention before everything else.

A news reporter was present as she put on her glasses in front of the camera. "Around Six O'Clock, police heard a call from a group of teenagers in the Calico Desert and were quick to respond. Mr. Clarkson is currently on the ground for an update."

The young doctor was immediately interested in this situation since the desert was not far from Stardew Valley. "What happened here?"

Images of the news anchor were replaced by the sight of a bald middle-aged man who was waiting for his moment. "The police have currently closed any traffic into Calico Desert, but we've managed to discover that the body was recently buried. We cannot talk with the teens who discovered the victim since it would interfere with the police's work. What we have learned is that the suspect has fled the scene in a black car. The whereabouts are unknown and the police will continue looking into it until the killer is found.

Thoughts drifted away from the television when he thought about last night when Alexei and his friend were talking to each other in the middle of the night. Harvey didn't want to speculate, but it did seem suspicious that his visitor didn't even show up when the rest of the town was still open. Maybe he was overthinking it? Yes, that is probably it. The foreigner never acted against the town itself and he did rescue those two trapped in the caves.

Footsteps echoed from the stairs leading into his apartment and then someone knocked on his door. "Harvey, are you there?" A woman called out.

He immediately jumped out of his couch and approached the door. His nerves were a bit shaky, knowing full well that he liked her, but never openly told her about his feelings. As he unlocked the door, a bright smile welcomed his coworker. "Maru, what's up?"

She was still in her nurse uniform, but he didn't mind it. "I managed to put away all of the medical supplies we got from out of town. Do you need anything else?"

Harvey's thoughts about Alexei had disappeared when the matters of his work came up. Yet, nothing else came up, but then he realized about his equipment. "Yes, could you clean some of my instruments. I just used them lately."

"Okay, I'll get to them in a moment." The nurse turned away and began to walk down the steps.

There was a chance for him to ask, but he never had the courage to speak.

Someone was pounding on her door and Leah opened it, just to find Penny in front of her home once more with a book in her hand. She recalled her time in the saloon, only to remember that her friend didn't meet here there as planned. "You didn't show up yesterday, what happened?"

The teacher paused for a moment. "My mom and I got into a heated argument. I just lost the mood to talk to you afterward."

She pitied the poor girl and her situation with her family. "I'm sorry to hear about that."

"It's okay. I'll be fine," Then she presented the book to her while changing the tone of the conversation, "I managed to find a book about the last few nations that still have cavalry around."

Leah's eyes widened at the news, they now had a way to find about Alexei's origins. She stepped aside and pointed at the nearby table to the right. "Put it on the table, let's look through it together."

The girls took their seats and began to open the book without the woodcarver ever knowing about its title. The first few images they had seen were introductory photographs of paintings and ancient depictions of knights from a past a long time ago. It was a fascinating look at the origins, she learned from the few descriptions in the pages that some bloodlines of nobility had managed to find their way in this day and age.

Old pictures were the first to express their age, but Leah noticed the transition from the old photographs into newer images. There were those in other countries wearing ceremonial equipment in military parades while dozens of captions remain unread. They were not the men they were looking for, but the sights of other cavalry units from various countries were just as fascinating to her.

Penny flipped through a dozen more pages and stopped at one set of pictures depicting riders with their sabers bare. "This must be it. Gunther said that this was the latest edition of this book."

Both took a closer look at the photographs to see soldiers in a mixture of grey and green uniforms looking at the camera while busy with their daily lives. The captions mentioned how despite the age of modernity, there were still some sources of cavalry that continued to serve a military role. There was still more and so Leah flipped one more page, only to find Alexei standing beside several men in their respective uniforms.

"To be honest he looks quite handsome in that," She commented while Leah silently agreed with her assessment. He was surprisingly good-looking in a military uniform and she considered the possibility of him still having that set of uniforms lying around, "Look at the description, it mentions something of a battle that occurred."

Eyes were focused on the descriptions, but the tale was one that shocked her. The accounts were a bit surprising with the rescue of several republic soldiers and the destruction of an artillery unit. Yet, there was more that spoke of Alexei's harrowing experience as the captain of his men. There was some kind of trouble brewing between the captain, his superior, and the general who brought those men into danger. Then she finally discovered his national identity amidst the slaughter he would endure.

They had finally returned to the town with the freed Ferngill troops as Alexei noticed the vehicles' engines running. The situation was becoming dire when he returned to his company to learn that the Gotorans were coming in full force. He trotted through the streets and made his way towards the bar where Colonel Akhrosimov stepped out of its doors and spotted him. "Sir, I brought the prisoners just as you asked."

The older man tried to speak but was in some kind of disbelief.

"Comrade-colonel."

He let himself get a deep breath before he spoke. "General Kuragin wants us to leave these men."

Alexei dismounted his horse and took off his hat. "What? Why would he tell us that?"

"He has shown his true colors. This mission of ours… it was a means to get rid of us and we just did we were not supposed to do, survive," The high-ranking officer explained with distraught, "If we return with our allies he will declare us deserters and traitors before executing us."

"Is that mad enough to throw all of our lives away like this?! What kind of general would do that to his own men?"

He reached into his pockets, only to pull out a pack of cigarettes. "One who despises your ranks filled with what he considers insects."

The colonel seemed to know more than he let on. "You knew?"

"Very much. General Kuragin, is a very pathetic excuse of a general, but I couldn't say anything without losing my rank to someone he favors more."

Thoughts shifted to more concerning matters. "The Gotorans are nearly upon us as we speak. We can't just leave the Ferngill troops at their mercy."

His eyes almost expressed his fear of speaking again. "I know, but we cannot bring them with us lest we find ourselves in front of an execution squad. There is only one way this can go."

"What is our option?" He wondered.

"We die so those prisoners get a chance to live."

The idea of throwing himself to the enemy seemed like a horrible fate, but they were all between a rock and a hard place. Alexei glanced over his shoulder to find a lieutenant still mounted on his horse. "You there, get your men together, and escort the Ferngill soldiers to our frontlines."

He was surprised at the new set of orders given the recent situation. "Comrade-captain, what will you do in the meantime?"

The officer grimaced at his next words. "I will preserve the honor of the guards."

Everything changed when the cries of artillery screamed down upon the town and the men who occupied it. Soldiers took cover as explosions echoed throughout the streets. Colonel Akhrosimov walked past the captain as he expressed his next set of orders. "Captain, I need you to take your men to position themselves east of the town alongside a ridgeline covered in trees. The Gotorans wouldn't be able to see your approach from there. We'll set up our armor and infantry in the town outskirts."

Alexei quickly mounted his horse and turned around to find the colonel looking back at him. "Yes sir."

"What a pity?"

"What's wrong?"

Akhrosimov smiled. "It looks like I won't make to the festival at Lendiforma."

The concept of humor in such situations was a strange one, but the captain accepted it as a way to keep his nerves in line. Several members of his cavalry trotted past him as he watched the tired and hungry eyes of the Fergill troops exchange glances with their rescuers. Their eyes were filled with hope as they tried to talk to him, but the language barrier being the only obstacle in appreciating their thanks. Some even tried to reach out and thank him, but the matters of war took precedent. "Guards, to me!"

foxyalienmonkey: Ask and you shall receive.