Eila groaned groggily. The noon bugle recording was playing over the PA system.
*We're going to have to work out our schedules better,* she thought to herself. *Otherwise this is going to kill me.* She looked down at Sanya sleeping peacefully in her...scratch that...*their* bed. Eyes closed, mouth slightly open, back gently moving with her slow, peaceful breathing. Sanya was an angel, and Sanya was with *her.*
Even exhausted, she smiled with pure joy. Twenty four hours ago her greatest fear was the girl sleeping beside her didn't feel the same way about her as she did. Now, she knew she loved and was loved, and her heart swelled with the thought.
*Maybe I'll snooze another 15 minutes...* she thought to herself. *No,* she shook her head. She had flight training in an hour; if she snoozed, she'd have to skip lunch, and she'd be hungry during the exercises. Normally she would coast through the training, applying herself as on whim. Seeing several seconds into the future - three at the minimum - Eila knew where everything was, and more importantly, would be at any given moment. She always hit her target, she won hands-down in dog fights, and she had long mastered her maneuvering skills in order to perform the sort of acrobatics required to dodge Nueroi beams at close ranges. Kill ranges.
Minna and Mio had been concerned that although she was excellent pilot and had an impressive kill rate, the fact that she couldn't be hit was making her sloppy. They needen't have worried. Unlike some of her fellow witches, Eila wasn't a volunteer, not that she had less respect for their abilities and commitment to ridding the world of the Nueroi mennace. She had enlisted in the military, had receive top notch training, and above all, was very disciplined. On the battlefield, anyway. If you took Barkhorn out of the equation. And Mio. And Minna. *And* Sanya.
Sanya! Beuatiful Sanya! Sleeping so fetchingly beside her, her silky,milky white skin glowing in the light diffused by the curtains. Her slender neck, her gentle, sloping shoulders, her smooth back, her small, firm rounded ... *Gah!* Eila blushed. *I've got to start getting ready,* she thought to herself.
She leaned over and kissed Sanya on the cheek, the neck, her shoulders... she managed to pry herself away before she went too far and faced disciplinary action for missing training.
Changing into her uniform, *Which one should I choose? Blue jacket, white pants, or maybe blue jacket, white pants? I known! How about white pants and blue jacket! That's living on the edge!* she reflected on the days practice. The wing commander and squad leader had decided the best thing to do was to concentrate her training on consort duty, she would either follow (hah! like that was hard), or more typically, she would lead, providing an evermore difficult target for her wingmate to chase. She had to admit, it was actually exhausting and fun.
At first she effortlessly lost her wingmate, but after a scolding by Sanya (*Sanya!*) she realized it was for the others' safety, and it was a pleasant challenge to train the other witches to keep up with her. And damn! they were getting *good*!
She gave Sanya one more kiss on the cheek (*Sanya!*) and made her way to the dining hall. Miyafuji was on lunch duty, and had typically made Fuso dishes. Eila liked Fuso cooking: it tasted *great*, filled you up, gave you plenty of energy, and rarely weighed you down with a heavy feeling afterwards. Her own Soumus cooking was solid, bland fare by comparison. She mentally made a note to learn some cooking techniques to use for Sanya. (*Sanya!*)
"Eila-san!" greeted Miyafuji. "How are you?" Eila felt as if she had been bitten by a zombie and was becoming the walking dead; instead she said "I'm great, thanks!" Minna had warned her that she would have to choose between day and night patrol, that it would be too difficult to continue to do both for any appreciable length of time. She had a good run so far, and usually she was fine if she got about six hours of sleep after night patrol. But how many hours sleep did she get today? Four? Three? She'd passed out from sheer exhaustion while making out with Sanya this morning, and that had started at eight...
Smiling at the memory of Sanya's sleepy, passionate kisses, she sat next to Lynne and across from Perrine.
"So, how'd the garden go?" she asked playfully.
"Great!" gushed, Lynne. "We decide what vegetables we're going to grow and where..."
"We'll plant tomatoes and peppers at the end of the south lawn, and put cucumbers, zucchini and yellow finger squash by the base so the vines can climb the walls..." continued Perrine with a slight smile. Gardening always improved her mood.
Lynne nodded, "And we're figuring our where we'll plant the radishes, carrots, onions, and lettuce."
As they ate they discussed where to get the seeds near the base, and who had the nearest furlough coming up to get them. Miyafuji came over during a lull in her duties, volunteering to pick some up next supply run with Shirley.
The dining room clock chimed three times for the quarter hour.
"Ah! ' yelped Yoshika. "Training starts in 15 minutes! I have to get ready!"
Lynne, Perrine, and Eila all pitched in to help Yoshika wash the dishes and cookware, making short work of it. Arriving at a sprint, they barely made it to the hanger on time.
Mio let loose with her hearty laugh as the girls huffed with their hands on their knees, trying to regain their breath. "That's what I like to see! Eagerness for training! That's the spirit!" Her face grew suddenly serious.
"Witches, to your strikers!" she shouted. "I'll meet you in the sky."
Sakamoto strode over to her bi-plane, propellers already spinning and taxied for take off.
Sakamoto started training with shadowing training. Eila flew about in ever more complex maneuvers while Miyafuji, Lynne, Perrine, and Hartmann tried to keep up with her. She climbed, dove, and wove in ever complex and unpredictable patterns with each of them for ten minutes, while the others pair played follow-the-leader with Hartmann. The other girls rested while Hartmann tried to keep up with Eila, who gave the tiny Karlslander no quarter.
Sakamoto allowed a ten minute rest while she explained the rest of the day's training: Yoshika, Lynnette, and Perrine were to each shadow Eila in turn as close as possible, while the other girls attempted to "shoot them down" with their orange paint-ball training guns. Eila's training task was to use her future sight to prevent both herself and her shadow from being hit, which would mean modifying her flight path to accomodate her shadow's abilities. Each girl would spend 45 minutes tailing Eila, with 15 minute rest periods between matches. Mio had chosen the Karlsland Super Ace to make training especially challenging for Eila. It was something the Soumus girl was looking forward to.
Eila was sweating from exertion by the time Yoshika and Lynne finished their turns as shadows. Avoiding the hunters and ensuring her consorts could keep up was difficult. Both girls had been hit with orange paint in the beginning. As they grew more focused and attuned to the elder witch, and she to them, she was able to avoid the hunter's attacks. Hartmann had led her hunters in a dizzying array of attack formations and maneuvers in the attempt to trip up Eila and her shadows. As she zipped and spun, rolled and careened, she had little doubt Erica had a earned her Super Ace status.
Eila floated over to Sakamoto's circling biplane with the other witches and drank from her canteen stored in the plane's passenger seat. It had been three long, hard hours of training, with one more hour to go.
Finally, it was Perrine's turn to tail Eila while they avoided the hunters. Eila dove straight for the trees when Sakamoto blew her whistle. Erica hadn't expected the move, losing valuable seconds adjusting to the Soumi girl's maneuver. As Hartmann dove with her wing-witches, Eila performed a sharp Immelmann turn towards and through the Karlslander's formation. She effortlessly breezed between her hunters, but Perrine was slow on her mark. Multiple paint balls slammed into the Galian girl's strikers and uniform. Mio blew her whistle calling off the hunters' chase. They reformed teams in their designated areas.
The next round ended similarly. Eila flew in a tight corkscrew before breaking off, banking high into the sun. Perrine fell behind and missed her queue to bank high, and was hit by cross-fire from Yoshika and Hartmann.
Next she zig-zagged across the Beligica sky, rising, falling, and banking to avoid her pursuers. Perrine was slow and wide on her turns, giving Lynne a clear shot with her Boys antitank rifle. By the fifth "kill" the major ordered a rest.
"Oi, Perrine!" she called over the radio. "Is there something wrong with your striker?"
"I... I don't think so," stammered the Galian.
"I'll check it out," volunteered Eila, buzzing over to her shadow. She pretended to look at and make adjustments to the Galian's strikers.
"What's the matter? Get you head out of the cloud and back in the game, " she scolded.
Perrine looked away. "I... I just don't have the heart for it anymore."
"Wha...? Don't have the heart?! What do you mea... oh, I see!" Eila looked Perrine straight in the eyes, indignation written all over her face. Her long pointed eyes were twitching furiously. "Now listen here, you!" Eila continued, letting her ire flow. "This isn't about you, and it isn't about the major. This is about the Nueroi, and making sure Galia is safe and making sure they never harm those orphans you care for again! Mourn on your own time," Eila snarled, "But right now you focus on making sure the Nueroi regret ever starting this war!"
Eila's words were like a slap in the face. How foolish she had been to let her sorrow over her unrequited love jeopardize those other things she cared for. The wound in her heart still bled, the knives still ached as they stabbed her, but her precious Galia, those poor, resilient children, who had seen so many horrors in the war, and who looked up to her, not only as a teacher and big sister, but to keep them safe.
Perrine nodded to herself, her face full of determination. Despite the gaping hole in her soul, she had a duty to keep the people and places she love safe. "Yokai!" she shouted.
"That's the spirit," grinned Eila, clapping her heartily on the shoulder. "Now let's go and show them some real flying."
Perrine matched Eila turn for turn, rise for rise, dive for dive. She truly was a shadow, cold determination driving her on. Hartmann, Miyafuji, and Lynne couldn't get a bead on either girl as they dodged and twisted. Hartmann's most devious flying and formations left them frustratingly empty handed. It soon became evident that Eila was playing with them; she maneuvered, banked, dove, and twisted, several times tricking them into shooting each other in the cross-fire.
"Kuso!" cursed Erica loudy. "Can she 'gift' her magical powers? It's like Perrine sees the future, too!"
"Sugoi!" exclaimed Yoshika as Eila swooped past her, grabbing her gun from her, and Perrine, hot on her tail put her own gun in Miyafuji's hand.
Lynne was practically in tears, shouting "Gomen! I'm sorry" as her sniper shelled collided into Yoshika and Hartmann's strikers.
At last, Major Sakamoto blew her whistle, signaling the end to the humiliation.
"Witches, to me!" call Mio over the radio.
"Good job, Eila, Perrine," she complimented as the assembled witches took long slugs from their canteens. "What did you do to Perrine's striker, Eila? It performed much better afterward."
"Oh, I uh," Eila thought quickly, "I adjusted the magical output pumps, is all." *That sounds like something I heard in flight school,* she thought to herself. Alt: "I adjusted the magical motivators, is all.
Before Sakamoto or Hartmann could ask for more detail, Yoshika and Lynne broke in, exclaiming "Wow! That's great! Can you look at ours, too?"
Eila smiled nervously and said she would, but maybe Shirley was better suited at striker maintenance.
The witches returned leisurely to base, where Sakamoto suggested they all enjoy the hot bath after a hard workout. Muscles aching and exhausted, they all agreed a soak in the ofuro would be a perfect way to end the day's practice.
Bath time was subdued, as they were too tired for boisterous hijinks. Instead, Yoshika and Lynne teasingly complained about Eila and Perrine playing with them on the training field, while Hartmann teased Eila, intimating that she had abandoned Sanya in favor of Perrine. This got the anticipate rise from Eila, though not as dramatic as she had hoped.
They were joined in the changing room by Barkhorn, Shirley, and Lucchini, fresh back from patrol, who were surprise and impressed to learn how Eila and Perrine had performed - indeed dominated - the training field.
They all met up again half an hour later in the dining room. Sanya was already there, halfway through her dinner. She had night patrol, and while the Belgica airforce was patrolling the skies between witch patrol, everyone - especially the Beligac rank-and-file - felt better when there were witches in the sky.
Eila sat next to Sanya, and patted the spot next to her for Perrine. They were joined shortly by Yoshika and Lynnette, who recounted the drubbing Eila and Perrine had given them.
"You shouldn't be so mean, Eila," Sanya teased, Squeezing her lover's hand under the table. The two junior pilots came to Eila's rescue, protesting that they had learned to be more careful and alert on the battlefield thanks to the lesson.
Eila quickly ate and bussed her plates so she could walk with Sanya to the hanger.
"Be careful out there," exhorted Eila as Sanya finished her pre-flight checklist. She looked about her furtively. Normally the hanger was a-buzz with activity prior to take-off, but the hanger crew had mysteriously vanished since she and her girlfriend had arrived. Seizing the opportunity, she bounded up the support ladder and planted a tender, passionate kiss on Sanya's lips. Surprised, but not unhappy, Sanya returned the passion.
"That's why I always come back," she said softly.
After Eila climbed down, Sanya ignited her strikers. The hanger crew reappeared just as mysteriously as they had vanished, conducting the final checklist. Shouldering her Fleigerhammer, Sanya waited for the aircraft marshal to signal her to taxi and take off. She looked over her shoulder one last time to smile and blow Eila a kiss before she soared into the sky.