"So, how does that feel?" Nico asked as she let go of the bandage. She hoped it was right. It looked right at least.

The boy in the cot, Curtis- "boy" was probably the right word, since he was only a little older than Nico herself- watched the whole thing, scowling all the while. He tugged on the bandages, shifted his leg experimentally, and finally tried wiggling his toes. "…Fine." He said, not bothering to look up or meet Nico's eyes.

"O-okay! That's good. So, um…" Nico tried to come up with something to say. Curtis was a fellow Scout, but they'd never talked before. Their first attempt had thus far not gone well. Now he'd been brought to the medical tent. She wasn't exactly sure why. He'd been fine through the battle at the castle-or was it a fort?- and that had been several days ago. "How did you get injured, anyways?"

She saw a tremor going through Curtis' body. "Go." He said.

"What?" Nico asked, confused. She looked at him pleadingly, but he still wouldn't look at her.

"Just go away." Curtis said.

"A-alright. Call me if you need anything." Nico said before turning away. That probably hadn't the best question to ask. She went to the other end of the tent to check the inventory on medicine. She wasn't sure it actually needed to be done, but it was probably best to leave Curtis alone for the moment.

"Curtis? You in there?" Came a voice from the edge of the tent. Nico looked over to see a tall young man with dark- very dark- brown hair wearing a Lancer's uniform. He stood with his head high, smiling, but seemed to fidget- less out of nervousness than to give his energy some outlet.

"Oh, hello, um… Keigel, right?" Nico responded.

The Lancer's face fell. "That's the old guy!" he said.

Nico grimaced. Their squad had six lancers; three men and three women. She already knew Jimmy, so she'd had a fifty percent chance of guessing his name right. "So, you're Laurent then?"

He nodded, though his smile still didn't quite come back. "Yep. Heard Curtis just got taken in?" he asked.

"That's correct." Nico answered. "He'll need to stay here the next few days, but he should be fine."

"Great. Can I talk to him?" Laurent asked.

"Oh! Well, you can certainly try." Nico leaned and whispered; "Please be careful what you say. I think he's a little upset about what happened. "

Laurent seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded and went to talk to his friend.

"How's it going, man?" Laurent asked as he approached his friend's cot. Curtis actually smiled at him. It was an understated look, but Laurent had learned that a small expression could mean a lot.

"Not so good, unfortunately." Curtis answered. He rubbed the bandage on his leg. "I've never gotten hurt this badly before."

"What did happen? Did some imps sneak up on you?" Laurent asked.

Curtis shook his head. "I did it." He said.

Laurent stared at his friend. "Huh?"

"I…" Curtis looked away "There was an accident during training."

"What kind of accident?" Laurent asked.

"The kind that hit a vein. A big one." Curtis said, gesturing to the bandages encircling his right thigh.

Laurent winced in sympathy.

"I'm lucky it was only this bad. If the wound had been a little bit to the side, it could've hit the artery instead." Curtis said. "Then I wouldn't even be here."

"Well, look on the bright side." Laurent said. He was used to Curtis' downcast moods. "You get to spend a while in bed while they're running the rest of us ragged."

Curtis gave a rueful chuckle. "You're getting the better part of that deal. If this cot was any harder, they'd be using it as tank plating."

Still unhappy, but he was starting to joke. That was a good sign. "And you've got a cute girl to take care of you." Laurent said, gesturing in Nico's direction.

Curtis sighed. "A cute girl who probably thinks I hate her. I didn't give her a good first impression."

Laurent wasn't terribly surprised to hear it. Socializing wasn't Curtis' strong suite. "Okay, so make a better second impression."

"It's not going to be that easy." Curtis shot back.

"Ah, come on, you'll do fine." Laurent replied. "Just think of it as practice. The ladies are going to love a pair of war heroes. And plus, you're going to need something to do here."

For once, there was no card playing that night. Thomas, having found a notebook and a pencil somewhere, was writing something out at a downright insane pace. He seemed to be flipping to a new page every minute or two, and he had several other notebooks at his side, ready when that one was done. He kept muttering to himself under his breath, but Nico couldn't pick out enough to make anything out.

Nico had a few torn up uniforms, a spool of thread, and a few uniforms with tears that needed mending.

That left Lily. She alternated between reading from a dog-eared book she had found somewhere and messing with her cards, either trying to do more readings or playing some form of solitaire. She punctuated it throughout with annoyed sighs that were just a bit louder than they needed to be.

"Are you doing alright, Lily?" Nico asked after a while.

"It's fine. It's only boredom." Lily said.

"Oh, well, um…" Nico remembered being warned against trying to make small talk while sewing, but she couldn't remember why at the moment. Lily could use a little help, and Thomas was so wrapped up in his writing that he didn't seem to hear them. "How's your family doing?" she asked.

"Probably still dead." Lily answered.

"WHAT?" Nico asked, louder than she had meant to. The fact she'd just stuck her finger with her needle hadn't helped.

"There haven't been a whole lot of cases of people coming back from the dead, you know." Lily said.

"Wha-what happened? Was it…" Nico couldn't bring herself to finish. Her hands her proceeding with the sewing on autopilot.

Lily actually smirked. "Oh, no. My mom died when I was a child. She had a little trouble on the stairs. My dad died four years ago, when a hungry rhino escaped the zoo."

"Wait, what?" Nico asked, confused. "Don't rhinos eat plants?"

"Of course. Which is why he shouldn't have been standing between it and that bush." Lily said. "And last year, there was my boyfriend Francis. He was such a sweet guy." Her face twisted in confusion. "They never did figure out why the flower shop exploded."

"I'm sorry, Lily" Nico said. "I didn't know you'd lost so many people."

"It's okay. I'm over it." Lily said, looking at something over Nico's right shoulder. "You're the ones who should be worried."

"Well, I am worried about you now." Nico replied. Thomas still did not acknowledge anything.

"No, I mean you should be worried about yourselves." Lily responded. "You both have a pretty good chance of dying like that, now." Lily gave her usual smirk. Or rather, she gave something that was close to it, but to Nico it looked off somehow.

Nico shivered. She could feel the gloom settling over the room, weighing her down. She didn't- wouldn't- lose someone again. How could Lily talk like that?

The sound of scribbling stopped. Thomas looked up, his face looking oddly resolute. "Have you truly surrendered so easily? How foolish! You shall find us more that equal to any misfortune."

Nico blinked. That was an odd way to put it, but it made sense. Had Lily just… given up? She couldn't let that stand. She had to do something to help. She didn't know what yet, but she would have to figure something out.

Thomas returned to his writing. Lily went back to her book. Nico had still been sewing the whole time, but before she could fully turn her attention to it, she noticed the cover of Lily's book.

"Hey, Lily?" Nico asked.

"Yes?" Lily replied.

"What's your book about?" Nico asked.

"Oh, this?" Lily said, looking at the woman glowing blue and brandishing a lance on the cover. "It's a novel set during the age of the Valkyrur. You know about them, right?"

Nico shook her head.

"They were a tribe from northern Europa who went to war with the Darcsens in ancient times. Legend says they were covered in blue flames that could stop a sword." Thomas briefly stopped writing to listen.

"Lily, could I please read that book?" Nico said. She was a Valkyrur, or something like that. Knowing exactly what that meant and what one could do would certainly help.

Lily smiled. "I never knew you liked history so much. But sure, you can borrow it." Lily held it out to her.

"Oh, no. You can finish it first." Nico said.

"Nico, I've already read it four times." Lily said.

Nico reached out to take it, only to discover that in the process of her absent-minded needlework, she had inadvertently sewed the uniform to her sleeve.

"Could you please help with this?" Nico asked.

Nico didn't always pay attention at Mail Call. She had known some people in the villages around the convent, but she didn't know any of them all that well, and none of them had ever written to her. She had, over time, noticed certain patterns; Godwin never received anything and was usually impatient for the whole thing to be over. Lily occasionally received a letter, though they were somehow or another junk mail. Jimmy got mail regularly, and was always happy to get it. Thomas got letters from home fairly regularly, but he was never very happy about it.

They had something for Curtis. She picked it up to take to the infirmary later. She settled in to wait until they had gone through everything. It took Nico off guard when they actually had a letter for her.

She came forward to take the envelope. She looked over it, rather confused. The return address certainly wasn't familiar. It came from a city she'd never been to. She frowned. Where had this come from?

She was so busy thinking about it, she never heard Jimmy approaching. "So, what do you have there?" he asked.

"It's a letter from… somebody." Nico answered.

"Hmm," Jimmy said, sounding thoughtful. "Could I take a look at that?"

Nico handed it to him. He looked over it for a moment, smiled, and gave it back to her. "Just at I thought" he said.

"What is it?" Nico asked.

"I'm pretty familiar with this address. Take a look." Jimmy held up his own envelope, with the same return address on it.

Nico didn't need to ask her question out loud. Her puzzled expression asked it for her.

"I told my wife about you. She said she'd be happy to let you stay with us for a while- but she'd like to get to know you a bit first. Try to write her back when you get the time.

Nico looked at the envelope once more. It was suddenly a more welcome sight.

Nico had long lost track of what was going on in battle. Squad E was surrounded and trying to fight their way out. They were in another big city- or maybe every city that had paved every street seemed big to her They had just shot some numbered signs on a tower that had somehow resulted in a barrage of artillery fire on an enemy position. She was relieved that it worked, although she had no idea how.

She and Karin were hanging back for the moment. Keigel- and she was sure this one actually was Keigel- had already had a close call with an enemy Shocktrooper, but he was probably out of danger at this point. Karin didn't have quite the same problem with nerves- she could hardly be called relaxed, stooped over Keigel as he lay on a patch of grass- but she was working in a focused, businesslike way.

The next development came as a quick warning over the radio, a chorus of swearing, and a burst of echoing gunfire, coming and going in several waves. Finally, there was a message of "Man down on Main Street".

Nico took off immediately. Karin was after her a moment later, with Ragnarok running at her heels. Karin called after her to stay focused.

This time, Nico was able to get to the patient with no trouble. He was being watched by Norrid, one of the Snipers. "Hello." Norrid greeted them casually. As far a s Nico could tell, he was not actually capable of worrying. "He looks pretty messed up."

"What happened?" Nico asked.

"One of the imperials stepped on his own mine coming around the corner. Godwin was too close." Norrid answered.

Nico glanced down at Godwin. He had numerous bloody lacerations, and she could see shining pieces of shrapnel. He was still breathing, but it was roung and ragged. Karin finally caught up with her. She took one look at Godwin, before digging two pairs of forceps out of her kit and handing one to Nico. "Pull the shrapnel, then apply Ragnaid. You take right side, I'll take left. Go."

The two of them knelt by either side of Godwin. It was grisly work. The soft, wet sound of digging through loose flesh was wretched, and the smoke-filled air was furthered soured with a subtle tang of blood. Godwin still had enough strength left to pull away from the forceps. Nico found herself repeatedly drawing back to avoid troubling him, only to remind herself that she didn't have time to hesitate.

A small pile of bloody shrapnel started to pile up next to her, and her Ragnaid container slowly emptied. Godwin's breathing got smoother, bit-by-bit. Karin finished on the other side, and moved over to kneel next to her.

Godwin flexed his fingers. "Where's… ring?" he asked nobody in particular, his voice still weak even with his injuries mostly mended. Nico kept working, but she didn't forget what she'd heard.

The sun was halfway below the horizon, and the light was disappearing. The city streets were quiet now. The fighting was over, and the remaining imperials had pulled out. There was scarcely anybody in town save for a few Federation soldiers.

Nico was crawling across the cobblestones on her hands and knees. She patted across the ground with her hands thoroughly, occasionally leaning over and looking across the ground to see if there was any kind of irregularity.

It took her by surprise when a light came up behind her. "Nico?" a voice asked. She looked to see Rosetta standing over her, holding a lantern. Her usually controlled features had a mix of concern and confusion.

"Oh, hello Rosetta." Nico said. "Is everything alright?"

"I was just about to ask you that." Rosetta responded. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for something. A ring." Nico said.

Rosetta gave a thoughtful sound. "So what does it look like?"

"Well… It looks like a ring." Nico answered.

"You're looking for a ring you haven't seen?" Rosetta answered. "How do you know there is a ring out here?"

"Because Godwin lost it. At least, I think he did." Nico said.

Rosetta let out a sigh. "It is good that you want to help, Nico. But it's getting late, and if you couldn't find it before things got dark, you're not going to find it after. Come, let's go in."

"But it could be something important to him!" Nico said.

"You may be right. But we are only human, Nico. We have our limits." Rosetta said.

Nico suddenly perked up and scrambled over a few feet before plucking something off the ground. She pushed herself to her feet and showed it off to Rosetta. It was a band of gold, with the words To Eve carved into the inside edge.

Rosetta frowned for a moment before adding, "Fortuitous, but you need to remember that sometimes, there's nothing you can do."

The two of them returned to the rest of the Squad. Nico had a spring in her step.

Nico came to the infirmary tent the next day. Godwin was still laid out, as was Curtis. She went to Godwin and gave him an enthusiastic greeting. He gave an annoyed grunt and rolled his eyes. Nico's enthusiasm faltered.

"Are you going to let me out of this dump soon?" Godwin asked.

"Uh, I think so. We just wanted to keep an eye on you for a day or two." Nico answered.

"Tch. Great. Every day I'm in here, I'm losing money." Godwin complained.

"But, don't they pay us the same no matter what?" Nico asked.

"You don't know anything." Was all Godwin had to say.

Nico swallowed. She hadn't expected a cordial conversation, but she hadn't anticipated she would have so much trouble. What had she planned on saying? "So how's Eve doing?"

Godwin squinted at her, probably trying to figure out why she would bring it up.

"You were mumbling something about a ring after you got hit-" Godwin managed to wince and glare at her in the span of about a second. Nico gave herself a quiet reminder to choose her words better next time. "But you didn't have a ring on you, so I went back and found this." Nico pulled out the ring and showed it to him.

Godwin smiled. It somehow failed to make his face seem any friendlier. "Well, wasn't that nice of you? Just give it here." He reached his hand out to her, and she set the ring in his palm. Godwin took the ring, holding it up to his face.

His smile immediately disappeared. "What's wrong?" Nico asked, puzzled.

"What's this shit doing on here?" Godwin asked.

Nico stared at the ring, puzzled. It didn't look dirty to her or anything. "Um, I don't see anything."

"What do you mean you don't see anything? It's right there!" said Godwin.

Nico squinted at that ring. Whatever it was that had upset Godwin so much wasn't standing out to her. "I-I'm sure it'll be fine, Godwin. Eve will still like it."

Godwin's head snapped towards her. His eys narrowed into a glare. Nico felt like a heavy weight went crashing into her stomach. "You think I'm the one who would ruin a good ring with this crappy engraving?"

Nico gaped. "That's not yours?"

Godwin sneered. "It is now. Not like some stiff's gonna need it."

"Y-you stole it?" Nico asked. "You stole it from someone's corpse?"

"Wow, you actually figured that out. Guess you do have a second brain cell." Godwin said.

"Godwin, how could you?" Nico said, her hands tightening into fists. "You can't just treat the dead like that-" A memory of trying to wrench off a dead soldier's helmet came back to her.

"Oh, shove it with your self-righteousness. Doesn't the goody two-shoes act get old?" Godwin said.

Nico couldn't meet his eye after that. She scurried away, looking for anything else to do.

"It looks like you're about healed up!" Nico said. "You should be ready to go back into service soon."

Curtis nodded. He seemed distracted by something. "And how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing alright. Don't worry." Nico said. The last thing she wanted was to weigh on him any more.

"Have you been doing anything... interesting... lately?" Curtis asked.

Nico studied his face, puzzled. "I've been here at the infirmary." she said. "I haven't done much that wasn't here. Oh, except cards. I play cards with Thomas and Lily sometimes."

Curtis looked at her. She couldn't see much of a change in his expression.

"Oh, and Lily let me borrow her book. I haven't gotten to read much, though."

Silence descended quickly. Curtis didn't give any outward reaction until he finally asked, "Could I ask you a favor, then?"

"Certainly!" Nico said.

"Could you read some of it to me? If you have time. You can just start where you left off reading." Curtis said.

Nico went back to the desk she and Karen used, then returned with the tattered book in hand.

"It was right before the big battle between the heroine Hilda and the barbarian king Oscar..." Nico read on. She suspected this wouldn't qualify as particularly good literature, but it was entertaining, and fights with swords and spears were different enough from their day-to-day concerns to not be too bothersome. At least, she assumed it didn't bother Curtis; his expression didn't seem to change much.

"And so, Hilda's final swing sent Oscar's axe flying from his hands and into the ravine, only for her to realize that she had shattered her lance in the process. It was just her and him now, and they had nothing but their bodies to go at it with." Curtis raised an eyebrow, though Nico didn't quite notice. "Hilda looked over her opponent. He was a magnificent specimen of a man, covered head to toe in thick muscle and clad only in a few scant furs. She realized that he had also been looking her over, before he smiles at her. She smiled back. It had been a long battle, and now it was time to... have some fun?" Nico said, a bit confused as to where the story was going. "He took her throbbing-" Nico abruptly cut herself off as her face turned red. She skimmed over the next several pages, confirming her new concerns. This was one of those books.

She had tried reading one once at the convent, keeping it hidden away under her mattress. She ended up being so nervous about it that she threw it in a fire when nobody else was looking after barely reading it. She didn't think the sisters ever knew she had it, or would have even cared enough to merit her concern.

"I think that's enough." Curtis said. "Thank you."

Nico went to put the book away.

It was on one of their occasional downtime days that Nico approached Rosetta with an unusual question.

"Rosetta, you've had a pretty good education, right?" Nico asked.

"Well, I certainly don't think it was bad. What brings this up?" Rosetta said.

"There's something I wanted to ask." Nico said. Rosetta looked at her expectantly. "Do you know anything about the Valkyria?"

Rosetta's face fell and she let out an annoyed sigh. Nico winced. "Yes, I am familiar with them." Rosetta said. "What do you want to know?"

"I- well, I guess I'm really just curious in general." Nico said.

Rosetta nodded. "I suppose that's fair enough, given the kind of rumors that have been going around."

Nico tried to look unconcerned. She wasn't sure how well she did.

"According to… certain historical sources, in the ancient past a tribe known as the Valkyrur from the north of Europa came and conquered much of the continent." Rosetta said. "The women who led them could supposedly cover themselves in azure flames that would consume any who would even try to harm them. A religion formed among those they conquered, calling them gods on earth."

"But as tends to happen with such empires, they eventually fell. Supposedly they were wiped out in a cataclysm that scorched much of Europa, for which the Darcsens were blamed. Those who worshipped the lost tribe- those we would now call Yggdists- Weren't simply angry with the Darcsens. They declared them to be demons, and said that the only way to return their "gods" to the world was to wipe out all of the "demons"".

"That's horrible." Nico said quietly.

"To be honest, I doubt they truly existed. Or, at least the way they comported themselves." Rosetta shook her head. "More than a few people think that the Valkyrur were simply a tribe that figured out how to use Ragnite as a weapon before their neighbors and built a short-lived empire. They implemented a cult around their leaders to make them more palatable to the people they conquered, and it ended up far outliving their empire. Unfortunately."

"You really don't like the Yggdists, do you?" Nico asked.

"I don't" Rosetta said matter-of-factly. "Ordinarily, I would say that other religions are an attempt to understand the divine that we should respect, even if we don't agree. But I could never encourage respect for treating hate and prejudice as divine mandate."

Nico nodded. It wasn't that she hadn't heard of Yggdists before, but she knew about as much about them as she did about pagans.

"So, what rumors where you talking about?" Nico asked.

"There's talk that the Empire has somehow found a throwback to the Valkyrur- a Valkyria. Or maybe two." Rosetta said. "As I said before, I doubt it's anything more than propaganda."

"I see. Thank you." Nico said. She shuffled away, her face downcast, leaving a confused Rosetta behind.

"All of you will be participating in tonight's operation." Lieutenant Wallace said to the others gathered around the table. He pointed to the map lying there. "We're sending one team down each of these parallel creek beds-"

"Aren't the creek beds going to be full of water?" Connor asked before adding a belated "sir?"

Raz glared at him. Connor didn't seem to notice. "No, private Dougherty. There hasn't been any water flowing through them for more than a hundred years." Lieutenant Wallace said. "They're cut very deep into the ground, so it's faster to follow them than to keep trying to climb in and out to go in a straight line. Raz and I will be taking the eastern bed, while you three-" he gestured to Connor, Thomas, and Curtis "will be taking the western bed. Connor will be providing mortar support. You two will need to cover him. Take you time and above all, be careful."

"As for you two," Lieutenant Wallace said, gesturing to Nico and Karin, "we'll need to split the two of you up. We can't afford to send both of you down one bed and end up losing someone in the other. Karin will be on the eastern bed, and Nico will be on the western one. Can you handle that?"

"Yes, Sir." Karen said.

"IIIII… think so, sir." Nico said.

Lieutenant Wallace shook head. "I need more than you thinking so, Nico. If you're not up to the task, I can see about getting someone else."

"I- Yes, sir, I can do it." Nico said.

"Are you certain?" Lieutenant Wallace asked sternly.

"Yes." Nico said.

Lieutenant Wallace nodded. "Good. Raz?"

Raz smacked the palm of one hand with a fist. "Heh. 'Course I'm ready."

"And you three?" Lieutenant Wallace asked the others.

Curtis nodded without a word.

"A midnight mission through hard terrain… that sounds amazing!" said Connor, with he excitement of a child who just found out he was going to an amusement park.

Thomas let out an amused chuckle. "Who do you think you're speaking to?" he said indignantly.

"Uhhh…" Lieutenant Wallace stared at him. "Private… Kevin?"

"Incorrect!" Thomas said. "I am not Thomas Kevin. I am Odin, god of battle and wielder of dark powers beyond mortal ken. I shall condescend to follow you for now, and I shall lay waste to all of your foes! I am more than equal to this task. I am- uhh, Nico? What are you doing?" he asked, as she put her hand on his forehead.

"I'm checking your temperature." Nico said.

"Why?" Odin asked.

"I'm worried you might have a fever. You're not making any sense." Nico pulled her hand away and turned to Lieutenant Wallace. "He feels normal but, sir, I don't think he's fit to participate."

"N-nico! I'm fine! Trust me on this!" Odin said.

Lieutenant Wallace shook his head. "I've learned that everybody in this squad has their… eccentricities, but I'm willing to give Private Kevin the chance to prove himself. All of you are dismissed. We'll reconvene at 1700."

Before Nico got the chance to ask Odin any questions, Connor dragged him away- literally dragged, leaving Nico marveling at what kind of strength it took to haul mortars- and was bombarding him with questions about his "apotheosis".

"I think I made a horrible mistake." Nico said.

Curtis seemed to ponder for a moment before shaking his head and leaving. Nico took a deep breath. She had a big night to get ready for.

Author's Note: Ten months, oh my God.