The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Divergence

Two

"Sir?" Tanya blinked.

In the weeks following the rescue of the Sue family, Tanya had been put back to work. She was commanding a band of mages on the Rhine front, and gradually the battle was stabilizing. She felt some nervousness at meeting her commander, but she thought things were going well.

"Congratulations, Lt Degurechaff. Command has decided that because of your various accomplishments you'll be attending the War College," he said.

"Sir! Thank you," Tanya firmly tried to not look as overjoyed as she felt. She was FINALLY getting away from combat. And if she could manage things well, she could end up in a position in the rear, possibly working in logistics...

"But what about my unit?" Tanya asked, faking concern with the best of them.

"They'll be fine," he reassured her. He checked through the paperwork, "There is a concern you may need some support, being a young woman there. Command has decided you will have an aide there, and it will be Corporal Serebryakov."

THAT surprised Tanya, but she stomped on the reaction. "I had recommended her for officer training," she said mildly.

"Which she will do alongside you," the older man said firmly.

"Of course," Tanya nodded briskly.

"Here's your documents, along with the Corporal's. It's been good to serve with you," he smiled, and they saluted each other.

"Thank you, sir," Tanya said as she left.

Tanya flipped through the documents. She would be spending several months in the Capital, Visha would be attending courses nearby. They were apparently be rooming in the same building, which she supposed was convenient. She reached the tents where food was being dished up, and saw Visha resting her head on a table.

"I want a nice bed... I want a shower...," Visha groaned, "I want an apple pie, even if it's from a can..." then the older girl saw Tanya. "Eeep," she sat up.

"Just a few months ago you were so new to this you could barely fly," Tanya noted wryly, "And now look at you."

Vasha sat at attention, and Tanya had to smile.

"Lt. Schwarzkopf has given us new orders from command," Tanya said, passing the documents over to Visha.

"Officer training?" Visha blinked.

"If you don't WANT to leave the bloody front lines...," Tanya teased.

"No no no no," Visha yelped. "That's not it. It just seems to good to be true."

"You will be stuck as my attendant too," Tanya clarified. "We're both going to Berun, you for training, me to the War College."

"I'm looking forward to it, ma'am!" Visha said a little stiffly.

"Travel plans have been set up, we'll leave tomorrow evening," Tanya got up as she added, "Best make any farewells you need to, today."

"Yes ma'am!" Visha said cheerfully.

'Yes,' Tanya thought, 'War College, time in the Capital and the chance to make myself known to High Command. How could this not turn out well?'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Tanya!" Mary Sue waved cheerfully as she ran up.

"Miss Sue," Tanya blinked.

"Mary, please," the slightly older girl beamed.

Just behind her, Anson and his wife caught up. "Sorry, Leutenant," Anson noted. He smiled, "You got promoted, I see."

"Yes, full Lieutenant. How are you settling in?" Tanya asked politely.

"Quite well, actually," Rachel smiled warmly. She gave Tanya an odd look.

"Yes?" Tanya asked.

"I saw the film they made after you received your metal," Rachel explained wryly.

Tanya winced slightly. "Yes, that was... a thing," she admitted.

The Propaganda department had tracked her down not long after she started working with Visha out on the Rhine front. Deciding a military uniform was not good, they had dressed her up in red frillies and made her up. It had all been hilariously embarrassing.

"I think you looked cute," Mary added warmly.

"Yes, well..." Tanya waved that off.

"Are you in the capital on business?" Anson asked, noting she was still in uniform.

"I'm training at the War College," Tanya admitted.

"Oh, congratulations," Rachel smiled at her. "Will you be in the capital for long?" she asked.

"A few months at least," Tanya admitted.

"Oooh, that's so neat!" Mary beamed. "Maybe we can catch up!"

Tanya managed not to wince at that thought.

Anson looked visibly amused, the taller soldier smiling at her sympathetically. He clearly 'got' that the young soldier and his daughter Mary probably had little in common.

Rachel looked at her curiously as she asked, "How is that other young lady who assisted in our rescue? Victoria?"

"Viktoriya," Tanya corrected, "she's here in the capital too. Officer training."

"Oooh!" Mary beamed, "Maybe we could all get together."

Anson chuckled softly, "Maybe we could arrange something."

Tanya gave him a look, valiantly fighting the urge to just go 'What.'

Rachel bit back a chuckle.

"Excuse me, I do need to get to classes," Tanya said, bowing slightly, then she hurried off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov sighed in relief as she packed up her school books and headed out.

"Corporal," one of her fellow students waves, "Are you busy? A few of us are..."

"I'm sorry, but I'm meeting a friend after class," Visha cut him off, but kept a warm smile on her face.

"Ah. Well, have fun," he waved as he left.

In the roughly two months she had been in officer training, Visha had realized there was a severe lack of women. Which, of course, resulted in MANY young men hitting on her... Thankfully once they heard she was also the aide of her Lieutenant, they backed off.

Visha blushed faintly as she headed out to the street. 'It' a bit embarrassing, considering how often the Lieutenant gets me up in the mornings,' she sighed.

"Hey! Visha!" Elya Seiber waved from a table at the cafe they arranged to meet at.

"It's good to see you," Visha impulsively hugged her.

Both women had been in training as Mage officer cadets together. In fact, it had been from Elya that Visha had first heard she was going to be under Tanya's command. Sadly, they had not gotten lucky enough to be assigned together...

"Congradulations on getting into officer training," Elya added warmly. "Of course you're doing well... other than sleeping in."

"Not so much," Visha said, but she was blushing.

"What?" Elya asked.

Rather sheepishly Visha admitted, "The lieutenant usually wakes me up."

Elya just LOOKED at her. "The lieutenant you're supposed to be an aide to is waking you up in the mornings?" she clarified.

Visha nodded sadly as Elya burst into giggles.

"She loves my coffee, at least," Visha pouted. "And I cook for her, when we can arrange it," she added.

"I guess you are both busy," Elya agreed. "I assume your classes are going well... though I noticed you mostly write about Lieutenant Degurechaff."

Visha blushed AGAIN, amusingly enough.

Changing the subject Visha asked, "Are you still posted with Observation Division? I sort of envy you that..."

"Ha. I envy you getting to do actual useful work," Elya sighed, "I'm still mostly just bringing coffee for superiors."

Visha was reasonably sure her friend was exaggerating how little she did. On the other hand, she wasn't going to press. "Trust me, you would not have liked slogging through mud on the Rhine front," she noted.

"Sorry," Elya made a face. Neither brought up their two classmates who had died on the Rhine front, too.

Just then Visha's stomach growled loudly. "Eeep," she looked sheepish as Elya laughed. "I skipped lunch," she admitted.

"Let's get some snacks, and you can tell me about living with Lieutenant Degurechaff," Elya teased warmly.

To be continued...

Notes: As Elya has no canon last name, I swiped 'Seiber' from BleedingBlade's fanfic, Amor Enim Vult. STRONGLY recommended, as well. It's one of the best 'post war' Tanya and Visha stories.