There are no words that I know that can describe what we found in Vasilius.
No words that could fully encompass the horror felt when one walked through its streets.
When I had first seen it, shock had frozen me. It was hard, seeing a place that I had loved turned into a slaughterhouse. Images overlaid in my mind. Fragments of memory from other places, other villages that had looked the same when Omar's men had left.
The blood will never be cleaned from this village. Vasilius will become another black dot on Ironwood's map.
When Ryke found me I suppose he was expecting me to be near comatose. Even he could barely absorb what was strewn carelessly across the streets, smeared on building walls, squelching underfoot as they walked.
When he found me I looked at him with cold, dead eyes. "Grimm. Lots of them coming from the South East by the looks of it. The corpses are more abundant near that area." It was hard to tell. There were bodies everywhere, in piles and in pieces.
But to an old killer's eye, there was a significant abundance in the Southern part of the village. The citizens had no time to counterattack the horde and had died terribly as a result.
And by the smell, the carrion had been sitting for a day at the most. I would know more once I started performing Post Mortem on the cadavers that were still whole. The ones that weren't… better not to think about them.
"Ryke." I called and he snapped to attention. "Divide your men up. Four groups, all armed up. Bring the bodies to the cemetery in the eastern part of the village. We need to do a body count and I need to ascertain when this attack was." He saluted. "And Ryke?"
The officer turned to look at his commander, feeling fear trickle up his spine. Where she had been warm and kind on the ship, now she was an unsheathed blade. "Make sure your men know that the Grimm may come back. Be prepared to fight."
He nodded. "Yes, Commander Derivalle."
He turned away from the terrifying creature before him and addressed his men. "You heard her boys, four groups, split up and gather the stiffs to the graveyard for burial and body count. May the Gods have mercy."
Some of the men muttered the word mercy beneath their breath. Dahlia turned to head to the graveyard.
I do not think we will find any mercy here.
I looked up into the sky and blessed the Gods for a cloudy day. There at least was some kindness in them. Maybe they are trying to hide this atrocity from their view… this Gods forsaken place…
When I looked back in front of me all I saw was death.
As swiftly as could be, Charlie Squad had divided and gone to work, bringing the whole bodies to be in the graveyard first before going back to their quarter and trying to put missing parts back together.
Don't think of the girl…
Elise had come back. I told her to leave but she had just said, "I have to witness for them. This is my home. I will not abandon them." Her eyes were hollow and I could feel how she had hidden any kind of emotion deep inside her so that she could look upon the destruction of her home village and not weep.
She would have to mourn later.
I needed her to identify the bodies so that we could begin to bury them. It killed me that I had to do that to her but she had told me better her than Elin. Peyton had strict orders to keep Elin away from the village by Elise.
"I love my brother. I won't let him see what's become of our home." Elise had told me when I asked. I had left it at that. Pushing would only make her hurt more. She was numb enough at the moment that she could last. Elin, for all his sarcasm, was still so sensitive. Seeing his home like this would destroy him.
"God, why do we` have to lug the stiffs all the way here. Why can't we just leave them? They'll be gone before too long anyways." A very young gunner said to his partner as they brought the barber to me looking like a macabre jigsaw puzzle.
He had been a sour man but he hadn't deserved a fate like this. Terror was still etched across the face that was left on him. I looked at the young gunner. "Perhaps you should think that one day someone like us would be kind enough to bury you with dignity." I said to him. He started because he didn't know that I had heard.
"What do I care? I'm dead anyways." He said, sounding incredulous. His partner shivered as my eyes grew glazed and sleepy. "I'll remember that. When you die, I'll make sure that your body only is left for the scavengers to feast on." I said in a sing song voice, turning and looking as a raven plucked out the eye of the seamstress and ate it before the man who was set to keep the crows away came and chased it off.
I smiled slightly and the young gunner shivered so hard he dropped the barber's hand. "Right here, please." I said motioning to the ground next to the body I had just finished reassembling.
Don't think about the girl…
He gently placed the pieces before me before fleeing my presence. Before I would have eased his fear and reminded him that I had had a long day putting dead bodies back together but now, I just didn't care. Let him fear me.
Ryke came up to me. "Body count is at about seventy nine, Commander." I nodded. "Thank you, Ryke." He stayed near me. "Ma'am… why don't you take a break? I can take over this job for you if you'd like." He said with unexpected kindness.
I smiled at him. "Thank you, Ryke but I'm fine… the faster this gets done, the faster we can go back to Beacon…" A thought sucked the air right of me. "I don't have to call the families, do I?" I whispered. I wouldn't be able to handle that.
Ryke put his hand on my left shoulder. "No, Commander. General Ironwood has a team of grief counselors that do that for us. There have only been a few times, very special times, when I've broken the news myself." I nodded and relaxed.
"Would you believe me if I said this isn't the first time I've seen something like this?" I said, looking down the rows of bodies laid out, prepped for burial.
The hand stayed on my shoulder. A sharing of strength. Even Ryke was wobbly from all of this. "Yes, Commander. I would… I do believe it… but I don't think your teammates have." I shook my head. "I was a different person then but the scene doesn't change. Now it's just more… personal. I knew some of these people, Ryke. Elise and Elin grew up with them, knew their faces and voices, the feeling of their aura. It makes it… different."
He didn't ask questions. He absorbed the answers and accepted them. At that moment, I needed nothing else. "I'm going to go check of the westward group. Make sure to wash your hands and grab something to eat and drink." I smiled tiredly but it felt wrong on my face. It felt wrong to smile in the wake of this many corpses.
Those that still had faces wore masks of terror and fear the likes of which no artist could truly render.
Don't think of the girl…
I began to put the barber back together when I felt a buzz to the west of me.
I looked up just in time to hear Ryke yell, "We've got a live one!" I left Orchid behind in my haste to get to where the west group was gather about. "Get out of my way, get out of my way!" I yelled shoving them away.
"Mama Thayet…" I breathed, not daring to believe my eyes.
She looked terrible, like she should be dead but I could see the faint rise and fall of her chest, could hear the air rattling around wetly in her lungs and could feel the faltering beat of her heart. "Stand back, give me some air." I growled, activating my Semblance. I stretched as many threads as I could fit into her body, stabilizing her heart beat, healing her ghastly wounds, cauterizing the stumps of her legs, forcing her lungs to breath, healing the internal damage, keeping her blood flowing in her veins and arteries, making her brain synapses fire.
It took about thirty minutes but finally, she was stable. "Ryke." I called, my voice sounding like I had swallowed a cheese grater. "Get her on the ship." I said, trying to stand but failing. My right leg was not happy with me.
Without saying a word, Ryke slipped my right arm over his shoulders and hauled me to my feet. Right then, as the men loaded Mama Thayet on board, Elise came running up to me. "Is it true?" She demanded with a gravelly voice. Already feeling the drain I nodded.
Elise lost all ability to breathe for a few moments till I tapped her. She started up again. "We have to get back to Beacon." I shook my head and Elise grabbed my left arm in a killer grip. I winced, knowing I would have a hand sized bruise on my upper arm.
"That is my mother! We have to go." Her eyes were wild. I stretched out my Semblance to her and calmed her down. "Elise. There is nothing I can do at Beacon that I can't do here and here we still have people to bury. I will not leave this place until I know that everyone is accounted for and buried with respect."
She began to take a deep breath in when, as if the God's wanted to mock us, there was a roar from just outside the village. I couldn't have stopped her if I tried.
She took off running, a black and silver blur, toward the sound. Aiya…
Terry brought me Orchid and I blessed his sweet soul. I hobbled as fast as I could after Elise, keeping tabs on all the threads I had tied to Mama Thayet. I could get a relatively far distance from her before I begin to lost threads but I was being extra careful.
She should have been dead with those wounds so sheer willpower was what kept her alive. And now my willpower was keeping her alive.
When I got to where the young Ursa had been, all I saw was Elise standing in the middle of pure carnage, dripping blood and sobbing. Serenity was stabbed into the ground and Elise held onto her handle with all her might and she wept.
Some of the soldiers had their guns pointed at her. "Stand down." I bellowed at them. "She took swings at us when we tried to get close. I don't think she's sane anymore!" The same young gunner who didn't want to haul bodies around cried out.
She's seen everything she's ever known turn to ruin. Everyone she knew is dead, her home village is a battleground and her mother's barely alive. If she was sane before, she wasn't now. The wall she put up to help us take care of the dead is broken and now there is just pain, pain, pain.
"I said, stand down!" I yelled once more and this time, they listened. The guns went down and I stretched a thread to Elise, feeling the cyclone of emotions inside of her. She tried to suck me in but I was stronger than her.
I gave her an anchor point and as I approached her, we hauled her out of her spiraling misery and grief. I kneeled down and gathered her into my arms and let her sob into my chest. I stroked her blood clotted hair, and embraced her pain into me, letting it become a part of me.
I let her cry till she felt hollowed and then Ryke pulled a handkerchief from somewhere as slowly, as not to startle her, handed it to Elise. She was alive enough at least to feel gratitude.
"I'll have Elin keep watch over your mother while you wash up." I whispered to her. She leaned back and nodded. "At least she's alive."
I ached everywhere but I still had bodies to bury."Let's finish up here. We need to get back soon." Elise helped me up and gazed at the purple and black bruise on my upper arm. "Sorry… about that.. and all the… blood." She said in a quiet voice.
I shrugged. The fresh blood from the Grimm was mixed with the old blood from the dead bodies I had been sifting through a majority of the day. I wasn't too concerned about it. "Don't worry about it. Let's just finish up."
Elise helped me back to the cemetery where I told her to go wash up on the ship. She didn't need to be sitting around covered in Grimm blood and scaring the soldiers.
"But I have to finish… identifying." She weakly protested. "Actually no, you don't. Those last three from the north were the last bodies we found. Go." Ryke said coming up next to us but staying at a respectful distance.
Elise was relieved though she wouldn't admit it.
"You should go too, Commander." I leaned on Orchid and refused. I had to finish this. I would clean up on the way back. "Take half the men and do a final sweep. We need to make sure that there are no other remains left behind. I won't leave one unattended to… what's the final count?"
I had a brief dizzy spell but it was over in a moment. I really needed to eat something but the thought of food seemed repulsive.
Sighing heavily Ryke replied. "Eighty seven, not including Mrs. Thayet." Eighty seven… Eighty seven dead. "How many of those were whole?" Some of them had been suicides. A bullet to the head was often preferable to being eaten by Grimm. Others had been found outside of the village also dead but in the strangest ways. Ryke gulped. "Twenty two."
I shoved away the pain and forced it behind those thick walls that I had built long ago. I nodded. "Let's get started.
We had already started burying the dead, giving them proper burials. We didn't have time to build coffins but Elise had assured me that her people didn't use coffins. The bodies in the graves fertilized the flowers that grew in the springtime on the graves.
Many young people made a few lein every year by volunteering to trim the flowers to their specific grave and water them if it didn't rain. I tried to imagine what that would look like but I couldn't. Who would take care of the graves now? Who would make sure the flowers were watered?
So as we buried, we took seeds from the garden shop and planted seeds along with bodies. I was adamant about it and Ryke backed me.
With everyone working, soon everyone was buried and had proper wooden grave markers with their name carved carefully by one of my little throwing daggers into the wood.
The cemetery was much bigger when we left than when we arrived. With eighty seven new residence, the grave yard had been crowded and parts of the field beyond the established plot of land had been used.
Graves everywhere.
And I didn't cry. I didn't yet mourn. I only let a few tears go when I placed a little dressed up ragdoll on a small grave that had chrysanthemums planted in it, awaiting spring to grow and bloom. And that sad little doll with its hair made of yarn and its button eyes and sewn on smile had splashes of red on it that hadn't been there before. There were even some beneath the button eyes that looked like red tears to match my clear ones that watered the seeds.
Then I turned my back on Vasilius.
Don't think of the girl…
I washed up and felt nothing. I ate bites of a sandwich and didn't taste it. I looked at the map and saw the new black dot.
Vasilius was no more.
When we landed in Beacon, everything seemed different. Mama Thayet was immediately rushed to the medical center to be put in a piece of machinery that would stabilize much like I had but it would only work as long as she was asleep.
It was a bit of a relief to pull those strands back into my body, and halt the drain on my soul. But it was also nerve racking, not having direct control of the woman's well-being. In my team, the walls were all back up. Nothing on our faces but cool professionalism. I would help them get through this later, after I discussed a few things with the leaders.
I would be calm. I would be cool. I would not yell or cry or scream. I. Would. Stay. Calm.
Elise came up next to me and slid her hand in mine, seeking reassurance and love. I was only too happy to give it. She was everything to me at that moment. And once I handed her over to the careful attentions of Daren I would find Blake and make her let me cuddle her till all the pain went away.
"Come on darlings. We're going to make a quick stop at our room before we go take care of business, alright?" I said, reaching out strands to each of them. Elin was able to look at me and give me a lopsided smile. Some of the tension left Peyton when he saw it.
Peyton had a hard time before making Elin stay still. I had put him in charge of contacting the surrounding villages to make sure they were okay. No other village had been touched. Only Vasilius.
There were many things about this situation that just didn't add up. All of which I planned on pouring over extensively with Peyton once the twins went for sparring practice.
"Commander?" Ryke said as we stepped onto the docks. Charlie team stood behind him with their helmets tucked under their left arms. I managed a weak smile.
"Ryke, the mission is over. I'm no longer your commanding officer." Even Ryke had taken off his helmet, revealing silver threaded dark brown hair and fierce pale green eyes. He smiled. "I think you'll find that we all still think of you as our commander, Commander Derivalle."
Warmth from my team, which was a relief.
"You earned our respect, Commander. You and all of your team. I hope that you know that you can call on us in the future." He said, holding his hand out. I limped over to him and gripped his hand tight. "Will do. And thank you. I couldn't have done it without you." I said honestly.
Ryke smiled, backed up a step and saluted. All of Charlie Squad did the same, saluting us for a long moment before heading back onto the ship.
When they were gone, Elise came to hold my hand again. I had a feeling that would be happening often in the future.
I didn't mind it. I needed it too.
I looked up at Oz's tower, somehow knowing that he was looking for me. He'd probably been looking out the window all day waiting for me to finally come home.
The sun was still above the horizon so I still had some time before I had to seek out Ironwood and give him my dire report. I could feel Oz's joy at seeing me.
I had been right. He had been waiting for me. And with my silver hair, it's not like I'm hard to spot.
"Come on, Elise. You need real food in you and a good night's sleep. I'll give you something for your nightmares." I said the last part quietly. She looked into my knowing eyes. Stuff like what we'd had seen in Vasilius left scars on the soul and scars meant nightmares.
She ducked under my arm and wrapped her arm tightly around my waist. The Dahlia-and-Elise pose. It helped make both of us feel better as we began to trek towards Beacon. I looked up again, feeling a familiar someone next to Oz.
Daren.
Daren and Oz were waiting together for us.
We were walking and I was vaguely aware of the heavy buzz of emotions near but it wasn't till I heard the crash of swords that I actually focused.
It was a show of how out of it I was since my first thought wasn't: Oh no, people are fighting in the courtyard! It was: Now why did Oz sanction a fight in front of the school?
I sighed and focused on the battle. Two opponents surrounded by rings of students from all four academies. Both wield swords. One a saber, one like an odd looking broadsword.
Both were familiar for entirely different reasons. The incredibly beautiful woman wielding the saber was a clear relation to Weiss, as I had memorized her family long before I came to Beacon, I knew the woman to be Winter Schnee, Weiss' older sister.
The man… now there was a face I hadn't expected to see anytime soon. Seeing his rough, handsome face made it all come back.
There is a man out there that I need dead for a business deal I'm making way for, Dahlia. I'm sending you to eliminate him. Omar hands me a profile with the targets picture paper clipped to the front for me to look at. What is the targets name, Father? Qrow Branwen.
Please help me. I don't want this life anymore… help me… I'm begging you…
"Qrow?!" I gasped. My knees got weak and if it weren't for Elise, I would have hit the cobblestones in a heap. "Jeez, Dahlia do you know everyone?" Elise said holding me up till I found my feet again. "In some ways or another, yeah, you could say so. What is he doing here?" I asked, mostly to myself.
And what the name of all the Gods were he and Winter Schnee doing in the front courtyard fighting?
It was a beautiful match and a fierce one. I watched it get more and more intense with every jab and parry. Then it got out of control.
Winter's saber hiss through the air and sliced its way up a girl from Haven's forearm. The combatants didn't notice a thing. There was only the fight.
I could've groaned. I looked up and the orange sky. Do we not get a break?
Apparently not, since two seconds later, Qrow's elbow ended up in a Shade student's eye, knocking him back into a pillar. "Alright, team DEEP, we're gonna play corral. Elise, use Serenity as a shield and try to keep them from stabbing any of the students. Elin, Peyton grabbed the injured and bring them into a safer part of the courtyard and guard them there.
More people were failing to get out of the way of the fight, and more ended up injured but more students joined in the throng and no one moved to leave. Sometimes you have to love teenagers.
We went to work and I held my teammates and my own battle sense in check. We couldn't afford to lose our cool here and go berserk. Who knows how much damage we would do before we could stop ourselves.
As the boys got the injured, I healed them of their injuries while Peyton got their information on my orders. You could bet money I was going to slap this one down to both Oz and Ironwood.
As the fight continued more got injured. A careless limb, a bit of a slip up with the blades.
I saw Weiss and Ruby pointing at the fighters and tried not to get upset when Ruby yelled, "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" To which Weiss replied, "Teach him respect, Winter!" Gods, they couldn't be helpful right now, could they?
The worst was when Winter punched Qrow in the face with the hilt of her saber and Qrow naturally retaliated by smashing his scythe-sword onto the ground, destroying the pavement and casting shards of stone into a heavily crowded area.
I was going to have them both whipped if I could. Careless, careless, careless!
They moved away after that as Winter used her Glyphs to shoot herself back and away from the attack. Ah I forgot, the Schnee's Semblance is hereditary. "It's alright, sweetheart, I'm a healer. I'll fix this right up." I murmured to a girl whose eyes could stay focused after her head had gotten bashed by another student when they had been backhanded by Winter.
None of it was on purpose or of malicious intent. That was the only reason I didn't kill them.
"Oh no, dearling, I promise I can fix your eye. Don't worry."
"Just relax dear, the pain will fade soon?"
"Can you tell me your name? No alright then, that's a problem."
Elise was doing the best she could but they were fast and moving constantly. If you get the chance just knock one of them out, for pity's sake.
She had to physically stop a light pole from crashing to the ground when Qrow literally sliced it in two. Had it fallen it might have killed several students who were in its path. And it was hard, keeping her in check. She wanted to badly to ravage and rage but she couldn't. Not here.
I'll admit though. It was rather impressive when Qrow made a swipe and Winter landed on the sword behind him and delivered a kick to his face as she leapt backwards. I wouldn't mention that though when I gave her a scalding reprimand later.
"It's alright, darling, deep breathe in then out, good job. Let your eyes follow my finger."
Maybe I was a bit wobbly? My Semblance didn't like being overtaxed, especially after the Tunnels. Elin tried to get me to stop but then people started crying out as tiny little white Nevermore's flew down the courtyard to attack Qrow. They were hitting other people as well. Must be Summoning. I've never seen it but I've read about it.
It was quite beautiful when it wasn't causing me migraines.
"Dahlia! I don't know, what-" Elin panted, pulling a girl up to me. She had white patches on her skin and she was shivering. Is that… frostbite?
I began to heal it and yes, it was frostbite. Now I'm definitely going to have to kill them.
"Can you feel this? Alright, good, good. Try to relax."
So many threads, so much going on around me; holding Elise's temper in check, struggling to keep my own under control, Elin and Peyton struggling to help me but were unable to since they didn't know how to heal.
"C'mon dear, lie still."
"It's going to be alright."
"I'll take care of you."
I'm done holding back.
I had had enough. If no one else was going to stop them, I would but the end result would not be pretty. I ran my hand over the forehead of a boy who had a stab wound in his shoulder from Winter's smaller dagger before I had healed it.
I was going to stand and hurt them. I had just buried eighty seven people, a majority of whom I had match their body parts back up and here these two were, pushing and pushing and pushing, well now I'm on the edge.
I turned to see Winter shoot forward from her glyph, her saber pointed in front of front, aimed right at Qrow. I thought she was going to run him through when…
"SCHNEE."
Winter stopped inches from Qrow's throat. I could feel her embarrassed resignation from where I sat, hovering over my patients. And there was a smugness to Qrow that I knew he had set her up good.
"General Ironwood, sir!" The beautiful woman said, turning with her saber and her dagger pointed straight out in perfect military form. I was surprised to see Penny, my sweet Penny, standing behind Ironwood looking worried. She saw me and waved happily but I couldn't find a good smile back so I settled for a upward tilted grimace.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" The General rumbled, looking at his underling with angry intensity. I don't think he even saw me. "He started the altercation, sir." Qrow interrupted with his hands clasped behind his head like he hadn't done anything. "That's actually not true, she attacked first."
Ironwood was like a robot. His eyes slid to his SO. "Is that so?" Winter looked like she was going to argue but then, realizing that Qrow was right, she looked away embarrassed and pained.
Ironwood looked around, meeting my eyes for a moment but he quickly broke contact. He may not be an Empath but he could see my anger.
We will have words, General. Many words and none of them kind.
The girl whose head lay in my lap began to breathe wildly. "I can't see! I can't see!" She began to twitch and fight. "Shhh, sweetheart. I'm here, I can fix it. Hush now." I placed my hands over her eyes and began to heal the frostbite that had covered the top have of her face.
"It's okay. You're going to be fine." The cold prickled the palms of my hands. Peyton placed a hand on my back. "Easy, Mommy. Deep breathes." I hadn't realized how fast I was breathing. "It's okay. We're alright. Take a step back."
My lungs wouldn't expand enough for a full breath. "I'm almost finished. I'm going to need that list." He nodded and went to finish gathering data for me. I saw him glance at Elin who came and took up a place near me.
"And you." Ironwood said, looking at Qrow. "What are you doing here?" Elin's whips slithered near us, ready to defend me while I was vulnerable. "I could be asking you the same thing." Was the grizzled reply. Elise came and stood with her brother, prepared to guard me as I healed.
They're so protective of me…
It warmed my heart and it hurt. They cared about me so much. They knew me so well.
I finished the girl's eyes and she began to cry with relief. A girl who was either her friend or her sister rushed over and cradled the girl as she cry. I swayed a little in my kneeling position and the dizziness made my eyes wobble.
"Hey, hey, Quicksilver. Are you alright?" Daren said, kneeling in front of me, grabbing my face in his hands. My eyes focused once more but not on him. I saw the prone bodies lying around me; the injured people recovering from their rapid healing and those that I had yet to attend to.
Prone bodies… dead bodies… don't think of the girl, don't think of the girl…
"Now, now everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner, that I can assure you has better seats. And popcorn." I heard a familiar voice say behind me but I couldn't turn to see them. "Break it up, everybody. We will deal with this mess."
Someone was calling my name and I could feel other familiar presences around me but my mind was frozen with images from the village.
I could hear the cawing of the crows, frustrated at my unyielding protection of the bodies; I could smell the stench of blood mixed with sweat, fear and pain; I could feel the blood on my hands, both old and new, sticky and clotted.
I looked down and saw the blood on my hands. I must have been putting a body back together and daydreamed of when I would be able to go home. The barber, the seamstress, the paperboy, the librarian, the farmer and his wife, the tavern keeper and his teenage daughter. They had been like jigsaw puzzles in my hands and their faces begged me to put them back together. Up, I put the tinker's arm with the blacksmith's torso, got to switch them.
The girl, don't think about the little girl…
"Is she alright?" Someone asked near me. Then I was back in the courtyard at Beacon and my hands were relatively clean. I had been staring at them with a horror filled expression for ten minutes and the crowd had dispersed.
I looked up and saw Daren with his eyes filled with worry. I tried to swallow but my throat was very dry. "I'm fine." I rattled. "I'm fine."
Don't think about the little girl…
Once I had finished healing the last girl, I took a shaky breath in and then let it out. I needed to put his behind me. Just like Mountain Glenn. I needed to bury away so that I could function.
I stood up and leaned on Orchid. "Dahlia, are you alright?" Peyton asked, ever so gently. The sun began to sink below the horizon and threw red light upon the world.
In its wake, my walls began to crack. I had held it together the entire day. I had looked upon the carnage and hadn't flinched. I had buried and entire village and hadn't broken.
"Peyton I need that list." I said in a quiet but firm voice. Anger built inside me, a much easier emotion to deal with. Anger at Ironwood, anger at the world, anger at the Grimm. It built and it built till I was seething.
Anger was better than defeat, rage was better than grief. If I let myself grieve I would stop moving and never start up again. I had to keep moving.
Once Peyton had sent me the list to my school Scroll I began to walk away. "Dahlia? Where are you going?" Elise called.
Orchid came down hard on the cobblestone, sending up little sparks as I walked and I marched away, stiff backed and jaw clenched.
"I have business with the General." I said between my teeth. They needed no other explanation. And then I heard Daren talking through his Scroll. "Yeah… she's coming… and she's three steps beyond mad… "
Don't think about the girl…