3rd person P.O.V
Tally Focus:
Tally followed the crowd of other girls out of the auditorium and collected her bag from the green in front of the building. A note had been tied to her bag with her name and the name of the dorms she would be staying in, Circe barracks. She moved out of the green with hter bag and down to the signpost plated at the edge of the walkway. Circe was only a few minutes away and she was one of the last girls to arrive in the main room. "Welcome to all-suites Circe Barracks, the finest on the base. I am Drill Sergeant Anacostia Quartermaine. My job is to keep you alive through basic so the Military high council can determine if you go to war collage or not... " Anacostia started. "Starting this year you will rise and fall as units. That means how anyone in your unit performs during basic is how everyone performs during basic. Your job is to be effective soldiers, displaying at all times those most military of virtues. Suit numbers on the back of your medals. Go, meet the rest of your units." aAnacostia said, finishing her speech. The room was still filled with witches "Now, Ladies!" she shouted. Tally moved quickly following the flow of people, once outside of the room she checked the back of her medal and then moved towards the stairs to get the names of her unit.
She checked the unit list on the bulletin board in the main corridor and saw she was with Abigail Bellweather and Raelle Collar. Climbing up the stairs she moved down the corridor towards the far window. Her room was on the right of the widow. One other girl was already in the room. "Hello, I'm Tally." she said with a smile. Her excitement was clear on her face. She finally felt at peace and happy since Sarah had left the compound and now she had found the place that would become her home. "I'm Abigail. Abigail Bellweather." the other girls said before turning back to the single bed she had claimed to finish unpacking. Tally took a moment to explore the room and opened the wardrobe to see all the military issue uniforms, she had just put one of the jackets on to look at it properly in the mirror, when the door opened again. "Hello, you must be Raelle, I'm Tally Craven, and that's Abigail Bellweather" she said moving forwards to shake the blonde's hand.
"Yeah, Hi." the blonde replied before quickly moving past Tally to the bunk beds throwing her bag on the lower bunk Tally was relegated to the top bunk. "Where are you from?" Abigail asked, turning from her bed. "Chippewa Cession, near Carolina" Raelle said while tucking a blanket into the frame of the bed to hide her bunk. "A bit pale to be from the cession." Abigail retorted.
"My family was there before it was the cession. What about you?" Raelle asked Abigail. "New York and Annapolis," the darker skinned girl replied. "How can you be from two places at once?" Tally asked, still standing by the door. "We summer in New York and winter in Annapolis," Abigail replied, moving some of her clothes over to the wardrobe nearest to her bed. "We summer where we winter." Raelle said crouching down to move some of her things into the footlocker. "Oh, I'm from NorCal, a matrifocal compound near Sacramento." Tally said. After explaining what a matrifocal community was to Abigail the conversation quickly turned to sex and witches marks.
The unit quickly acquainted themselves with each other, unpacking their belongings and sorting out a schedule between themselves that gave each of them time to themselves as well as time together as a unit. This was something Raelle initially was against, she didn't want her entire life decided by other people. But when Tally proposed that they each have individual time scheduled each week the blonde quickly agreed. This arrangement helped Tally in ways her unit was not able to comprehend. It would allow her to see Sarah for a few hours a week, where they didn't have to be general and soldier. Sarah had called Tally the day before conscription day and had told her that the first couple of weeks they might not be able to see each other and that Tally had to first get used to the rules and restrictions of basic training.
Alder focus:
Sarah could tell you the very time that Tally passed through wards into Fort Salem down to the very second. She could tell you exactly what she was doing, which was pouring a glass of her current favourite whiskey to drink before she made her way to the auditorium. She desperately wanted to call Tally to her office to see her and just be near to her, but she couldn't not until after the young witch had started training, it would raise a few to many eyebrows and she needed to make sure that she saw Tally in the young witches' free time, so that her training and development with her unit was not impacted. All of these thoughts and conditions spiralled through her head as she stood by the window. One of her biddies moved forwards to take the now empty glass from her hand, Sarah was unaware that she had even drank the whiskey.
Sarah could tell you exactly where in the auditorium the red-head had sat and how big she had smiled when she had looked at the young witch. With both of them under the wards of Fort Salem the blessing was taking full effect once again and while it would take a few days to build up Sarah feared that it would become immensely painful to be so close to each other but to not be able to see the other one. Sarah had had a week to prepare on Base and had three hundred odd years to understand her emotions and build her walls. She was confident in her abilities to go two weeks without actively seeking Tally out; she feared that her wife was not strong enough to do the same. They had had this conversation over the phone when they made the agreement to try to wait until two weeks after basic starts. Tally had also told her of her plans to explore the grounds in her free time, so if they were to bump into each other then it could not be helped. The young witch's optimism and light had brought many smiles to the general's face over the last few weeks since meeting the girl.
The general sat in her office with piles of registration paperwork in front of her, now that basic had started all of the new cadets needed to be signed off on for training to start, she would be very busy that day, which is a good thing. It would distract her from missing her wife and from wanting to seek her out. She could now once again see the sadness on her biddies faces and knew that Tally would be feeling the same sadness while on base. Tally should be able to attribute that initial sadness at separation to homesickness.
Tally focus:
Tally quickly started to get to know her unit, sharing stories and information about her life on the compound but always careful to avoid the topic of relationships, saything that it wasn't something discussed by anyone under 18. Which the others easily believed. They learned about the passing of Raelle's mom in the fight against the spree, and had come to the arrangement that every Friday between last class and dinner was time they had to themselves as individuals. Time that Raelle took advantage of to spend with a necro cadet by the name of Scylla. Tally and Abigail get pretty tired of hearing about the girl but they couldn't tell Raelle how to use her time. The first two weeks Tally used those Friday hours to explore the grounds near to Circe and near to where Sarah's office was. The two were fortunate to run into each other on one occasion, but Sarah was accompanied by other military officials and they could do no more than acknowledge each other's presence as private and general. That night was especially bad for the younger witch, Tally found it hard to sleep and was grateful to not have Saturday morning training. Those few moments had been the closest that they had physically been since Sarah left the compound.
The first two weeks of basics quickly passed and although Raelle had not settled fully and was pulling the unit down. Tally was growing hopeful that she would be able to sneak away to let Sarah know when she had time just to herself. Because of Raelle's impulsivity and lack of desire to work as part of the Unit Abigail had demanded that until they could work together seamlessly they would spend every possible weekend together training. Tally made it a habit to spend as much time outside and had managed to find the gardens that Sarah had mentioned on their wedding day. If they happened to be right next to the exterior entrance to the generals quarters and thus provide Tally with an easy way of getting in and out of her meetings with Sarah then neither one said a word.
Split focus:
It was in these gardens that they had their reunion, Tally had yet to notice the exterior door, hidden just behind a rose bush, when Sarah opened the door to see the redhead crouched down at the base of one of the trees looking up at the ivy that was growing up the trunk, the white flowers just starting to bloom. "Hello, Tally. I'm glad you found the gardens." Sarah said from inside the doorway. Tally turned around sharply standing up as she did so. A wave towards the general followed by blushing cheeks as Tally moved forwards towards the doorway. "Hi, I missed you," Tally said "I have Friday afternoons free only. Abigail wants us to train as a unit on weekends'' Alder nodde and moved aside in the doorway to reveal a flight of stairs lit by lamps attached to the bannisters. Tally started up the stairs and Sarah shut the door behind the two of them, both briefly paused on the stairs to get used to the change of lighting.
The biddies stood waiting at the top of the stairs as tll passed them each of the seven smiled and reached out a hand to settle briefly on her arm. Tally smiled and nodded at each biddy individually. The group moved into the office and the biddies locked the doors and closed the blinds on the windows to give the pair some privacy. "Tally, I would like if these moments and conversations that we have here each week to be just about us, I don't want to discuss training or work in the short hours I have with you." Sarah said, settling the pair by the fireplace, one of the biddies brought over two glasses of whiskey to the small table between the two arm chairs. "Your mother did tell me something before I left the compound, when she was still under the impression that you would be staying." Sarah said while taking off her jacket and laying it across the back of the armchair.
"Oh, Goddess. What did she tell you?" Tally asked, confused. There wasn't much that she wouldn't have told Sarah if she asked. The only thing she wouldn't have told Sarah would be her full first name. Oaths and promises could be made with a witches most commonly used name so tallyhaad no need to use her full first name ever. "Your mother told me what your name was. Tallulah." Sarah said gleefully, a smile spreading across her face. Tally raised a hand up to her face in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
"I can't believe she told you that." Tally squeaked. Shock written clear on her face. Blood rushed to her face, her cheeks doing a good job at matching her hair. The rest of the visit assed similarity to the time to two spent on the compound, the two hours Sarah had set aside for every Friday afternoon quickly drawing to close. "Before I go, can I give you a hug?" Tally asked Sarah after one of the biddied had pulled a watch out to show the pair the time. Sarah nodded and stood from her chair. Reaching a hand down she assisted Tally from hers and pulled the young girl close allowing her to wrap her arms around Sarah. The group moved back towards the corridor that led from the office to the general suite as well as the garden's door. Alder and the biddies watched hidden behind the door as Tally walked off through the gardens to meet her unit for dinner. She would be having dinner with Anacostia and had to prepare for that. She would be seeing her wife again. Hopefully for more than a couple hours a week.