Dust: An Elysian Tail

Before The Storm

Written by WildSnivy

Chapter 3

New Order

I've been lying on my bed now for the past three days. Or that's what it feels like at least. The curtains are shut and I've been more or less alone in my room up to now. Ginger occasionally comes in with a bowl of soup or something like that. It may have been something different; I wouldn't know. I don't speak or even glance at Ginger or her dinner when she comes in, and she doesn't make any efforts either. She may as well be a ghost for all she does while I'm in here. The door quietly squeaks open, there's a soft clink as the ceramic is set on the nightstand, and then the door closes itself again. What feels like a few hours pass, then it creaks once more, and the unsullied bowl is taken away from me to go back downstairs.

The ceiling to my room has taken a beating. The grey rubber ball bounces off of it again and falls into my left hand. I move it to the right, throw it back up, watch it collide and come back down once again. It's the only thing I can be bothered to do. It's the only thing that can serve as even a small distraction.

The parents are dead. Nikolai may have said they were just missing, but they may as well be dead. All the while, as I mindlessly watch the ball go up and down between my hand and the ceiling, I keep thinking about them. There must have been something I could have done. There must have been some way Ginger or I could have gotten them to stay. Talk them out of going with the caravan that day. Have them come with us to see Fuse at the camp. Have them here with us to finish celebrating the day they brought me into Falana...

The ball crashes onto the floor with a heavy thud and rolls away. My arm jumps onto my eyes and I uncontrollably, sharply inhale. I refuse to admit to myself I'm crying. What kind of a brother am I? Ginger has to feel as bad as I do if not more. And all this time she's been so calm, so stoic, so composed. I couldn't let her see me like this. I can't let her see her brother this way. She's now all I have left.

But what else can I do? What else is there to do? I feel my arm get progressively more wet, and I slam it onto my bed. I don't know if I should feel sad, angry or sorrowful. Instead, it's a mishmash of all three, and I despise it.

I let more time pass. I honestly don't care how long I've been in my room, or how long I've been broken down like this. But it's long enough for Ginger to reenter my room. I can only hope she doesn't notice that I finally gave in. The bowl is set down on the nightstand, as expected. I roll over to my side, towards the wall, shut my eyes, waiting for the door to squeak its way shut again.

It never does. Either Ginger didn't close it on her way out this time, or...

"You...should eat," she slowly whispers from behind me.

"Not really hungry at the moment," I mumble after a sigh.

I hear Ginger fold her arms. "Jin..." she starts to say. She pauses, and for a second I think she just gave up and walked away.

"It isn't your fault," she finally states.

"I never said that it was."

"We both know..."

"How would you know what I'm thinking?"

She pauses once more. "I'm your sister, Jin. I know when you're being evasive."

"They didn't have to die, Ginger."

"We couldn't have done anything to help anyways. They volun..."

I snap. "Say that again," I command her, daringly, furiously, in complete disregard to who I was talking to.

Ginger freezes. She doesn't want to repeat herself. Instead I leap off of my bed and pace around her. "You just said we couldn't have done anything, didn't you?"

"Jin, I..."

"You're wrong, Ginger," I angrily talk over her. "There were plenty of ways to stop this. We could have gone with them. You could have talked to them. They could have postponed that caravan for the day after."

"Listen..."

"We were not there for them, and they died the moment they stepped out of the village. They're gone because we decided not to do something, even though they'd be here right now if we did."

"But we didn't!" Ginger yells. I'm within my rights to continue my tirade, but I stop right there. A tear rolls out of her eye and splashes onto the floor.

"We didn't, Jin! You keep talking about what we could have done. What difference does that make now?"

I don't answer.

"You're allowed to feel bad that they're gone. But stop telling yourself you could have done better! Please!" She's already struggling for air. Calmly, she walks back to my bed and sits down on it. I stand where I am, my hands in my pants pockets, my head hung and drooped at the floor.

She lets herself catch her breath before she speaks up again. "This isn't like you. This isn't like you at all."

Again, I don't say anything back.

"You've been stuck in here all week because you think you did something wrong. You don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't even say hi when I try to help you..." Her eyes are still watery. I can't bring myself to move.

She takes another uneven breath. "It's...bad enough that my parents are gone..."

She stops again. I raise my head a bit.

"I...I..."

I finally turn my head slightly to glance at her. Like me, her head is low, and she's hunched over her legs. She slowly lifts her head, her glistening blue eyes glaring at me, serenely but terrifyingly.

"I don't want to lose my brother too!" she yells at me, intensely. Those immaculate eyes leer at me for a few seconds more, then bury themselves into her hands as she softly sobs into them.

"I don't want to be alone," she weeps. Nobody moves. She doesn't move off the edge of the bed, and I don't move from where I've been standing. Apart from Ginger's crying and the muffled bird chirps from outside, there isn't any noise either.

I try to lift my feet once again. They feel heavy, unwilling to move at all.

I refuse to give up. I force my right foot up and swing it to the bed. Then the left.

Two strides later I can now sit down next to my sister. With hesitant comfort, I gently place an arm over her shoulder. Almost reactively she leaps back onto me, throwing her arms around me and pulling me against the side of her head. I feel my shirt grow colder as she clings onto me.

I wrap my second arm around her as well, and softly rest my head on top of hers.

"I'm here, Ginger," I whisper to her. "I'm not breaking our promise."

I finally fall asleep and wake up the next day. I feel like I should be rested at this point, but I definitely don't feel like it at all. I'm still groggy, my head still feels like it's being weighed down with lead, and as my growling stomach is quick to remind me, I'm still hungry, as much as I wanted to convince myself that I wasn't.

Ginger did her job, though. She's right. I can't stay in my room for the rest of my life. I can't continue to lie down anymore and tell myself that I'm responsible and I could have done better. Because I didn't kill them.

It was the army. What business did they have anyway, sending a scouting party all the way up here, if what Nikolai said was right? Were they really after Fuse's clan? How would they have known? Almost everyone in the village was sympathetic to the Moonbloods in some way. Unless someone was dealing under the table, which isn't completely out of the question considering that this is the Royal Army, then nobody could have had anything to do with this.

Right?

I blink and shake my head. Too many questions, Jin. You've been through more than enough right now anyways. Focus on what needs to be done first.

My first thought immediately jumps to Ginger. We're on our own now, and whatever the parents left behind can only keep us up for so long. I need to do something about that. The Moonbloods did send our family small cash installments in appreciation for the supplies, but those where nowhere close to a steady income for one person, let alone two or four.

I need to find work. And sooner rather than later. I quickly run through my options. I know the general store near the town square has been looking for help for eons by this point. Maybe I'd finally give in and see what they have for me. There might also be a post at the mayor's office? Probably not, unless it involved me swabbing the floors of the town hall. Not my preferred job...

Inspiration hits. Nikolai. He might not be too keen on the idea of taking on an assistant or even an apprentice, especially on this short notice, but it's practically common knowledge that he's been getting more orders lately than he knows what to do with. Also, it's Nikolai. The family friend and neighbor that had been living down the street for at least a decade if not more. Why would he say no to some to extra help?

He wouldn't. That's the new plan. I get ready to jump off my bed and talk to him about it...

Something's holding me back, pinning me to the bed. I need a second before I realize that Ginger had fallen asleep right behind me as well. She's still holding me, preventing me from me getting up.

I sigh inaudibly as Ginger moans a bit. Where have I seen this before? I can probably inch my way out of her bind if I tried, but I'm almost certain I'd end up waking her in the process.

So instead, I do what any big brother would do in this scenario and use it as an excuse to get some extra sleep in. I haven't had much of it in the past three days, if what Ginger said was right. No harm in getting another half-hour or two. Or three. Or five maybe. Gently, I quit resisting and let my eyes close themselves again.

I sink into that nice pleasant type of sleep I generally don't get to experience outside of the weekends, where you're know you're asleep and are actively enjoying every second of it instead of just watching it blur past. I'm not sure how much of it I actually get, though, because I'm shortly jerked out of it by the crunch of boots under dirt, getting progressively louder and louder outside of my bedroom window.

My eyes reluctantly creak open and I force myself out of Ginger's grasp, unfortunately waking her up in the process. I give her a warm grin as an apology as she sits herself up as well.

"What the heck is going on out there?" I begrudgingly mumble as I work myself onto my feet and half-stumble over to the bedroom window.

Ginger lets out a yawn and stands herself up as I tug back the curtain for the first time this week. And I almost immediately regret doing so. Outside, in the village's main street, is rank upon rank of the Royal Army's soldiers, marching in perfect time with the brattatat of the drum as it proceeded past Nikolai's forge and the house. I peer down the street as best as I can manage from my vantage point, towards the town center. Almost everybody in the village is crammed around the perimeter, prepared to receive the patrol as it stamped its way into town.

I peer back to the company. It's not as large as I initially thought; despite the copious numbers of rows the soldiers were arranged in, the narrow streets kept their widths to about four each. Save for one area, in the center of the blue steel swarm. It was just one man, walking alone in the gap, like he was being escorted by the army. Was he one of them? The rest of his clothes don't look much like a uniform; maybe he has one hiding underneath that black overcoat, which just barely scrapes the ground with each step. Maybe he was one of the convoy that didn't make it back? I can't get a good look at his face, that grey, wide-brimmed hat on his head blocking more than just the sun, so I can't identify him either. He's a complete enigma.

"Jin? What is it?" Ginger inquires from behind me.

I let the curtain fall shut again and walk over to my closet for my jacket. "Royal Army," I reply. "And I think they have something to say to us."

The square is nothing short of crowded by the time Ginger and I finally get out the door. The patrol is marching towards the far side of the area, likely so they can get the attention of everyone in the village who wasn't outside right now. The man in black is still expressionlessly walking alongside the rest of the soldiers as they proceed across to the front of the pack.

The town has the decency to at least clutter up in small groups so navigating the crowd isn't too much of a hassle. Even from the back, Ginger and I don't have too many problems snaking our way around the small clusters, trying to find a good spot to stand.

I look back up at the patrol. They're starting to center themselves at the square. Likely, whatever they had to say was soon to be discovered.

"Oy! Jin!" a voice yells at me from my left. I glance over. Nikolai is waving at us over the rest of the townspeople. Ginger quickly takes off towards him, and I follow shortly behind once a small cluster of people move past.

He's already chatting with Ginger by the time I arrive, and nods in my direction. "Good ta see you're feelin' better," he remarks. I can't tell whether that was supposed to be a question or not.

"Yeah," I reply with a similar degree of vagueness. "Yeah, I am."

He scratches the back of his head again. "Listen, my shop's always open for you two," he slowly says as he glances back at the patrol. "If you need me ta handle anythin' for you, I'd love ta help."

I clear my throat and get ready for my proposal. "Actually, Nik, if it isn't..."

The soldier on the drum slams onto it again and cuts me off. I promptly shut up and turn my attention back to the patrol.

"We'll pick this up later, aight?" Nikolai suggests under his breath. I raise an eyebrow in acknowledgement as I watch the man in black step forward towards the crowd. The soldiers part for him as he proceeds blankly towards the front of the company.

Again, that hat keeps me from getting a look at his eyes directly, but the way he's turning his head leads me to believe he's surveying us. Scanning us in a way. He's looking for something, it looks like.

He moves his hands behind his back and lets his coat catch the wind a bit. There is indeed a Royal uniform underneath it. Not the general plate and mail that the rest of the soldiers wore, but instead a high-quality cloth uniform. It's a long-sleeved grey shirt underneath a black vest, and clipped to the belt of his pants is a very long, very slender sword sheath.

So that's what his deal is, I say to myself. He isn't just a soldier. He has to be one of the Royal Army's higher-ups. Captain, at the least.

He takes a breath in after a minute and finally speaks up. "People of Zeplich," he addresses us. The air feels ten degrees colder than it just was. Already I don't like him. The words are professional, but the tone feels chilling, almost threatening. I glance over at Ginger. Her eyes have widened slightly, almost fearfully, at the man before us.

"I am Commander Cassius of the Royal Army," he introduces himself. "I'm here at the order of General Gaius; I'm certain you're familiar with him."

He'd be right about that. The General was only the head of the entire Moonblood extermination campaign; there probably isn't a single soul on Falana who hasn't heard his name crop up at some point. His name is practically a swear in this town, and if any conversation about him could be avoided, it was.

Actually, come to think of it, that'd also explain why I already despise Cassius, even after just three and a half sentences. He may as well have been throwing flowers to the crowd for all I care. Just the fact that he's under Gaius' command is enough for me to loathe his very presence.

The commander continues his speech. "It's recently come to my attention that some of your people had..." Pause for effect, I'm guessing. "...a very unfortunate accident a few days ago. We do lament your loss, and our condolences go to the survivors and their families."

"The hell they do," I growl.

"Save it, son," Nikolai soothingly whispers back.

I take a deep breath and follow his advice. I'm listening for Cassius to start talking again, but he's gone silent once more. His head's bowed, almost reverently in a way.

But then he looks back up at the crowd, and I can tell straightaway that wasn't the case. There's nothing mournful about his posture, and that hat has to be blocking probably the iciest stare he can manage right now.

"However," he forcefully states. "There have been...rumors flying about recently that may call the integrity of these individuals, or the ones they were traveling with, into question. That they may have, against the wishes of General Gaius and our great King, been secretly supporting our enemy with supplies and trade routes for a very, very long time without our knowledge."

I feel my fist clench. My parents died that day, and now he feels the need to rub it in like that. My arm feels ready to fly off my body and knock that stupid hat right off of Cassius' head. That'd calm me down. Ginger's hand jumps onto it, making sure that doesn't happen. I peer over to her, and she looks up at me. She nonverbally tells me she understands, even if I don't. Was this anger really getting the better of me?

Cassius' speech moves along regardless. "With this in mind, it is highly probable that the integrity of some of the individuals in this crowd may also have been corrupted by their actions. And these individuals are almost certainly a threat to your village's safety and well-being, and by extension, yours."

Don't tell me they're thinking of...

He raises his arms, almost showcasing his troops filed alongside and behind him. "To this end, my company and I have taken it upon ourselves to investigate this matter further, and find and eliminate these persons, these Moonblood sympathizers, before any more harm can come to pass."

I can hear the riot starting to form in my head, the villagers booing and yelling at Cassius, readying their pitchforks and swords and whatever weapons they could find to chase him and his band out of the town once and for all. Everyone knows better than that right now of course, and the square is physically completely silent. But inside everyone's minds, I'm certain they're all shouting in outrage as they get ready to torch every person in an army uniform.

"Mind you, this is not a military occupation. By no means at all," Cassius adds, pacing back and forth in front of the line of soldiers. "We are simply following a lead is all. These people are dangerous to be around. You may have very well been talking to one all this time. We are here to identify these people and ensure that your town is safe from any of their plans."

Nikolai sighs and slips his eyes into his hand. I have to agree with him. The amount of propaganda getting stuffed into this speech is nearly enough to make me sick. Really, who's going to get swayed by what Cassius had to say about our relations with the Moonbloods?

Cassius takes one more scan of the crowd before he moves along. "Thus, we will be spending the next few days with you as we begin to look into this matter further. Please do not be alarmed if we are at your door at any time during our stay. We will ask only a few questions and then be on our way. Like I said, we don't intend to occupy your town."

Except you already are, I mentally retort. He could try spinning this as much as he wanted to; by definition, the town is now occupied by the Royal Army.

"We are only here to serve you," Cassius concludes. His head is turned towards us three, and I swear if that stupid hat wasn't always blocking off his extremities he would be looking right at me. I feel my blood go cold for a moment as I let myself get victimized by his mind games. There's no way he can be staring at me. Absolutely not. There have to be at least fifty other people in the area. Who's to say he isn't looking at them instead?

My mind can't do much more than stew on that thought as Cassius snaps into a salute, left arm straight down to his side, right hand formed into a fist and pressed against his left shoulder. The rest of his entourage does the same as he makes his final remarks.

"We thank you in advance for your cooperation," he states. "And trust us when we say we will get to the bottom of this. You're dismissed." At that, Cassius returns to his at ease position and begins to stride off to the town's outskirts, his escorts timely marching behind him on their way back to their temporary encampment.

The beating of the drum gradually fades into the distance, signaling that they were long gone. The square's crowd doesn't move or disperse at all. Instead, it's just mumbling. Nobody wants to wait until they're in a more private spot to talk about what had just happened.

And Nikolai doesn't either. "You think they're on ta us?" he whispers to me.

"I think he would've said something if they were," I reply. "For all they know, it's just a few of us for now."

I don't even need to look at Ginger to tell she's worried. "The people he was talking about earlier," she says. "He doesn't know about Mom and Dad, does he?"

"I don't know," is all I can answer with. Because I honestly don't. It was smart of him to keep the identities a secret; he didn't want to spook off anybody potentially collaborating with them. He might not have known anything at all.

I keep telling myself these things, but already I'm starting to realize it's just talk. I can't verify anything. Cassius knows everything and nothing, and I'm not sure which one it is. And I'm scared to find out.

Is that what all this all is to Cassius? Just some sort of demented game of cat and mouse? I doubt that's it. Cassius might know what he's doing, but he doesn't look like someone who would take something like this so lightheartedly.

I sigh and turn back to the house, more than ready to shut myself back up in it, unwilling to let Cassius sit on my mind any more than he has to.