Chapter Four: Reunions
"Capital's in sight, Jaren," Kyr called from ahead of the group. They had been walking uphill for some time time now, as the path Jaren had chosen was off of the usual paths frequented by merchant carts. Kyr was at the top of the current incline they were walking up, and looked surprisingly energetic for someone who had been carrying such a heavy pack and setting a brisk pace for the rest of the group. Touka could feel that her legs would be at least a bit sore the following morning, and she felt rather fortunate that it was her habit to travel light with just her sword, the clothes she was wearing, and the small pouch she carried her money and other small valuables in. Of course, looking over to her other companions, they didn't appear too encumbered by their respective heavy loads. The members of the Free Company looked accustomed to carrying their heavy packs over any terrain, and Karura's unparalleled strength made it unlikely in Touka's mind that she felt burdened in the slightest.
When they caught up to Kyr, they were treated to a spectacular view of the capital and the surrounding land. It was now evening, and the contrast between the faint lights of the torches around the castle itself, the lights coming from the inns, taverns, and other shops still open, and the stars above made a very picturesque scene. Jaren and the others took a brief drink from their waterskins as they took in the sight. Jaren offered his to Karura, who declined with a shake of her head. "Water, ma'am?" Lynia held her own waterskin out. "Oh, thank you," Touka said as she politely took a drink. As she returned the waterskin, she noticed Jaren remove his pack and place it on the ground carefully. He rubbed at his right shoulder with a wince, turning his head to the right as he did so. Lynia noticed as well. "Is your shoulder acting up again, Jaren?"
Jaren nodded. "Must be the fighting we did earlier today plus the marching with packs, I think," he said as he rubbed at his shoulder for a few more moments before shouldering his pack again. "I'll help you out with it once we reach the capital and get settled in," Lynia said as they started marching again.
"Could you? I appreciate it," Jaren said. "It's nothing. If I didn't help take care of you, who knows what state you'd find yourself in," Lynia said in the tone they had her use earlier when Jaren had apologized for leaving her to act as a public mediator back in the tavern. "I still remember you bleeding all over the place in Noseshechika after you tried to dodge that assassin and he caught you in the forehead with his dagger."
"What can I say? He was taller and stronger than most, so the normal way I dodge turned out to be not as effective. It was a real bother to have to keep my left eye all bandaged up with the rest of the cut though. Scar's still visible, I think," he said, unconsciously rubbing at a spot above his left eye. Touka twisted her head to take a look, and sure enough there was a faint white line tracing diagonally upwards visible under the moonlight.
"You've fought hard, as expected of an Anterei," Touka offered. Jaren shook his head with a smile and a wave of his hand. "You should see some of my relatives. My uncle Tellis Strasert is missing half of his left arm after a particularly unlucky ballista bolt, that's something like Kyr's weapon but significantly larger, caught him in the elbow. He's doing alright, considering. The man paints now, quite well in my opinion. All those years with the sword really did wonders for his coordination, and his eyes haven't dulled a bit."
"Your mother, Ayiri, too," Lynia said. "She's got quite the scar over her left eye, just like Jaren's but worse and more permanent. She can't see too well out of her left eye anymore," she said for the benefit of Touka and Karura.
"Ayiri? The name sounds unusual, and I notice you didn't mention her surname. It sounds as if she is not from Anterei," Touka queried with interest.
"Very perceptive of you," Jaren said. "You're right, she's not. My mother Ayiri is not of Anterei blood. She's Evinkuruga." He paused to let Karura and Touka digest this bit of information. Karura raised an eyebrow but otherwise made no sign of surprise. Touka's eyes grew especially wide. "Let me say, however, that I'm not half-Evinkuruga. I don't carry any more of their blood than what has been passed down from Anterei and Melian's children, our ancestors."
"Then... you were adopted by her?"
"Correct again! She was very good friends with my blood mother and father, and when they died on the battlefield she petitioned the Strasert elders to raise me as her own. They accepted on the condition that I keep the Strasert name, as they had just lost two of their own and couldn't stand to lose a third. She agreed, and I became her son."
"Ah. For a moment there, I thought you were going to tell me she was saved by your father, fell in love with him and bore his children. I let my imagination run wild there, that almost never happens, and the only example almost anyone can recall is Anterei and Melian," Touka laughed nervously as she spoke.
"Oh, but she did," Jaren said, blinking. Touka abruptly stopped laughing and walked with her mouth slightly open. "Not with my father, but with a man from the Belian line, Jesiah Belian. He was friends with my blood mother and father since childhood, and Ayiri knew that he would've raised me as his own if he hadn't died in the same battle with them. Jesiah met her completely on accident when they were both pursuing the same outlaw group, and she was saved by him when he rescued her from a rather sordid fate when they managed to disarm and restrain her. From what I've been told, they got along extremely well and their relationship progressed quite fast. They had only been together for a year before they had a child together, my elder sister Iruno."
"Only a year?! But that means that..." Touka trailed off as she blushed bright red and her voice was reduced to a flustered garble. Jaren scratched his head, wearing a sheepish smile on his features. "Like I said, fast."
"A storied romance by the sound of it," Karura said cheerfully as she followed them with a marked bounce in her step.
"My, aren't you the entertained one, Karura," Lynia remarked. Karura looked over her shoulder at the laconic scout with an impish smile. "Only when things are this interesting." Lynia rolled her eyes but refrained from saying anything further.
"Sorry if that story made you uncomfortable," Jaren said, lightly placing a hand on Touka's shoulder to try and steady her nerves. The Evinkuruga woman jumped away with a barely suppressed yelp, and realizing what she had just done continued to flush a bright shade of red. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make light of the bond!" This time Jaren was the one looking embarrassed.
"There you go again with the unfamiliar terms. Mind filling me in on what Anterei-Evinkuruga folklore I'm missing out on now?" Karura had wedged herself in between Jaren and Touka to try and calm them down long enough to get some answers.
"Ah, yes, right away!" Jaren cleared his throat in an obvious attempt to compose himself. Karura heard Lynia snicker slightly and a quiet snort from Kyr. "The idea of 'the bond' refers to Anterei and Melian's relationship as noted in The Chronicles, Anterei's record of almost everything involving our people since the time of Anterei, as well as in popular tales. Melian is said to have fallen in love with Anterei because he fought alongside her as an equal, and was able to defeat her in a duel shortly after they first met, which had never happened to the skilled swordswoman before. Anyway, 'the bond' these days refers to the notion that a Evinkuruga woman who sees or fights with or against an Anterei man at a level that's equal to hers or even higher will be almost irreversibly attracted to him."
Jaren glanced over at Touka for a moment, who was still embarrassed judging from her fixed stare directed at the road at her feet. "There's also another story that explains her attraction that involves Anterei getting her out of a rather... compromising situation, but I think I'll leave that for another time to spare Touka any further embarrassment today," he said, evidently choosing his words very carefully as he watched Touka for any change in expression. "It's an apocryphal one not officially recorded in The Chronicles, but it's a popular story that gets passed around by Third Division as it deals with their own founder Rielle."
"Oh? You'll have to tell me that one sometime," Karura said as she alternately beamed a smile at Jaren and Touka. Touka snapped her head up and fixed a wide-eyed stare at Jaren as she shook her head vigorously. Karura pretended not to see her energetic effort as she continued to speak. "I learned the basics of Anterei's lore a long time ago, but it would seem I never got to hear the especially interesting bits. It's not often a people have stories that aren't boring at all."
"The children of Anterei and Melian for you," Jaren said drolly. "With parents like that, who would expect anything else? Our history even when we're nominally at peace hardly lets up in terms of the various adventures and mayhem various generations of Anterei have found themselves experiencing. I don't think we're any exception," Jaren said, making a gesture to indicate himself, Lynia, and Kyr. "If you hate boring stories, I should introduce you to my extended family. With Straserts on one side and Belins on the other, there's almost no end to them."
"You mentioned the Kern line being famous, but both sides of your family are famous as well, then?" Karura cocked her head slightly as she asked the question.
"I wouldn't say as famous as the Kerns, but they've both made a fair showing in The Chronicles. The Belins are a bit more illustrious than the Straserts, as well, at least in terms of prestige. The Straserts are more known for being unique or otherwise unusual compared to most famous Anterei lineages. They may not have had as many distinguished members when it comes to military heroes as the Belins, but nearly everyone knows all the stories with the Straserts better. I suppose you could say they have a tendency to turn out a bit more wild than the Belins."
"You seem normal enough to me," Karura said bluntly, although with a smile.
"Thanks, I suppose. Probably the result of an unusual upbringing."
"Unusual how?"
"I'd say that being raised by an Evinkuruga mother but retaining the Strasert name, having relatives from both Strasert and Belin constantly visiting and mentoring me, and growing up with no knowledge of either of my blood parents counts as unusual." He was silent for a time as they walked on, but looked back at Karura with a smile only a few moments later. "You could say that's my Strasert nature at work, even if it's completely out of my control. Fate seems to act very peculiarly around us no matter what the circumstances of the time or place we find ourselves living in."
"I'd have to agree, even though all I can go on is what you've told me just this day since we met. If the rest of your life is as interesting as what you've already told me, I can see where this idea of the Straserts being unusual comes from." Jaren shrugged as they continued walking, their boots making slight scuffing noises as the dirt grew rockier.
"What about Lynia and Kyr? Are they from famous lineages too?" The two perked up at hearing Karura ask about them.
"Come on, you two," Jaren said with a wave. "I've known you two for what seems like an eternity now, but you should still probably answer that yourselves."
"Sure, I'll humor you, Jaren," Lynia said half-heartedly. "The Milthas name isn't the most prestigious, but we're respectable enough and can trace our lineage within five generations of The Fracturing when the land Anterei was lost. Both my parents are artisans; my father is a blacksmith and my mother is a jewelery maker. I also live with my grandmother, who I suppose you could say is my inspiration and why I'm here slogging through the dirt and the mud with these two instead of sitting around comfortably back at home making a good living creating jewelry for rich ladies to show off." Kyr and Jaren both chuckled quietly, Lynia shooting a displeased look their way as they did before continuing with her story.
"I grew up being very close to my grandmother and listening to her amazing stories of what she saw and did with First Division in her younger days. Grandmother doesn't really look the part anymore, but apparently she was quite the firebrand both on and off the battlefield in her younger days. She always told me to never accept any limits anyone tried to place on me, including ones I placed on myself. When she figured I was old enough, she started teaching me things she had learned over the years as a soldier. By the time most girls were busy doting on boys who caught their fancy, I could fight a stronger, taller man and win nearly every time. I would've been a total social outcast if it wasn't for all the friends of my grandmother and the daughters of my mother's friends being around so often, and giving me something else to busy myself with besides the training. I remember that time happily because I was always learning how to do something, whether it was how to fight, to track animals or people in the forest, to sing, to dance, to paint.
"I met these two troublemakers when I underwent the militia training all children born into Anterei undergo after they turn sixteen. We were placed into the same team because we were from the same area, although we had never met before except in passing. We were something of a legend in our training cohort, and I don't mean to exaggerate at all. I already knew how to fight quite well before showing up, and the lessons and drills we went through only sharpened my skills further. While others were still learning the basics, the instructors were refining my advanced skills and teaching me things that put me far and away beyond the other trainees.
"Kyr's always been able to out march, out run, and out carry anyone else we've known, so his being on our team was undoubtedly a great help. His vision and hearing are superb, and he's an amazing shot with any kind of missile weapon. The first day we trained in shooting slings and arrows he managed to thoroughly impress all the other trainees and the instructors as well. That helped a lot, seeing as he was on rather friendly terms with some of them, and even Sergeant-Instructor Holg, the sternest, most grizzled soldier we'd ever seen and who would tear you apart verbally for the smallest mistake never had much to say. Kyr had a bad habit of flirting with the other female trainees though, and ended up causing his fair share of problems that way. He did make up for it though; there were a few incidents where he managed to sweet-talk some of the younger female instructors into giving us some extra rations, which we were grateful for, seeing as Kyr's got an appetite to match his endurance. Thankfully, he could also hunt and fish like a master, so we never really went hungry thanks to Kyr's efforts in one thing or another.
"Jaren... well, Jaren was always in his own league thanks to his upbringing, as he mentioned earlier. It really was a sight to see, Jaren fighting seemingly effortlessly, switching between his Evinkuruga-taught forms, to variations of the Belin's accumulated fighting knowledge, and the free-flowing and unpredictable style preferred by the Straserts. He could outfight any of the trainees including me, and all but a handful of our instructors except the most experienced ones, and even they freely admitted that the difference in their abilities were so slight it was frightening considering his young age. Jaren also excelled when the time came for any kind of stealth, pursuit, or tracking exercises. No one ever managed to spot Jaren unless he wanted them to, and he had this disturbing way of just disappearing and appearing seemingly at will whenever he was out of sight for more than a few moments.
"They started calling him 'Wraith' after one exercise lasting ten days where he absolutely terrorized the other groups involved. We were all left in the woods with a minimum of supplies and told to fend for ourselves until the instructors came for us. They let us form alliances or act independently as teams as we wished. We were also supposed to try and steal the other teams' supplies and the bundles we all were issued that represented critical maps or important objects we were to protect, and stop them from doing the same to us. By the end of the fourth night, Jaren here managed to scare enough of the teams away from certain areas of the woods that were great hunting and fishing spots so that they were basically ours for the rest of the exercise."
"I remember that," Jaren said with a crooked smile. "The first day I went to sleep in the late afternoon and woke up a couple of hours before midnight so I could get ready. I painted my face white and black to look like some kind of monster or demon and skulked about the woods looking for other team members. Alone, in groups, I wasn't picky. Some of them I surprised by coming out of bushes and groaning, or I'd cover myself in leaves and lay belly down until the time was right and I'd rise up dramatically hissing 'Deathhhhhhh!' After the first two nights when the stories had spread, I didn't even really need to show myself much, just run around the woods screaming and yelling like a madman, or following the more persistent teams around and giving them all sorts of dire warnings. I left some of them dead fish all around their campsite that they found when they came back, and a couple of times I dropped these rough-looking effigies I made out of sticks into their campfires at night when they were about to go to sleep. Kyr had helped me make some pitch earlier in the week, and we coated them so they flared up quite nicely when dropped into an open fire."
Lynia frowned in disapproval as Jaren kept smiling. "I worry about you sometimes, you're such a sadist with these things."
Jaren ignored her and continued his account. "I think my favorite part of that whole thing was when I ended up stalking this one trainee named Githere. The man was a real proud type: old lineage, military family, the tall, strong, and cocky type who didn't take 'no' for an answer."
"Also, a tremendously arrogant bastard, excuse me ma'am," Kyr added, bowing his head apologetically towards Touka, who at this point had recovered from her embarrassed state and was listening attentively to the story.
"Also very true. Githere had formed an alliance of seven teams at the very start of the exercise, and they had been doing well enough until they started crossing our little domain on the second day. It was mainly his alliance members that bore the brunt of my more creative stunts, the dead fish and the effigies being some of them. Didn't take too long before I had scared the wits out of some of them, and the alliance started showing signs of strain. Githere always thought of himself as a natural-born leader, and took it upon himself to dispel all the rumors of mysterious monsters lurking about the woods at night. The only problem was that Kyr had been spying on him and his alliance mates all day, and by the time I woke up after nightfall had told me everything I needed to know."
"Well? Tell us what happened next," Touka said excitedly. She seemed engaged enough with the story not to notice the smirk Karura directed her way, focusing all her attention on Jaren instead.
"I'm getting there," Jaren said with a smile. "Now, as much as I disliked Githere, and I still dislike him, I will give him credit for being at least somewhat charismatic. He managed to coax, berate, or otherwise intimidate two of the other teams who weren't scared completely out of their minds of our little area in the woods to accompany him and his own personal team out on an expedition of sorts. Problem was, they were already on edge, having been party to my little performances before, so by the time I began shadowing them and purposely stepping on dry twigs and scuffing my feet through leaves they were a real mess. It only took maybe half an hour of that before everyone but Githere's own team had scurried off for the safety of their main camp. I had made a point of never going near their camp, and they had picked up on that fact earlier. The idea behind that was that I was hoping by giving them a safe haven they wouldn't feel as desperate as if I had harassed them no matter where they went."
"It worked, too," Kyr said. "Jaren always turned back right as they crossed this one ridge near a stream. They caught on to that fact quick, and it helped because we always knew they would go that direction at the first sign of anything seemingly supernatural."
"That was the critical part of our plan for the last night there," Lynia said, coming back into the conversation after letting Jaren tell his portion of the tale. "Githere was still not convinced about there being some kind of supernatural being in the forest, but without any backup he was forced to turn back and try to take control of his alliance. We didn't mind at all, as we just wanted to keep him out of the area until we were ready to put our plan into motion. All of us ended up sleeping for most of the tenth day in a cave that was in the center of the territory we had carved out for ourselves. Right as night fell we woke up, ate, and readied ourselves for what was to come.
"The plan was simple and brutally efficient: I would pretend to be heavily injured and have Kyr carry me into the area Githere and his alliance members had made camp in. Kyr would come up with a wild story about how we had been in hiding for the entire exercise, and just found our way into the neighboring area to forage for supplies and wait out the tenth day until the instructors came to collect us and evaluate our performance at the end of the exercise. Little did we know, the story would go, that there was something already there, and that it wasn't happy we had set foot in its lair. While Jaren and Kyr were gone the creature had ambushed and wounded me badly. When they arrived, Jaren screamed out for Kyr to take me to safety while he delayed the monster, and would then try to escape and regroup with us. As the situation had turned out so badly, the decision was to go into Githere's area and trade our critical map and object bundles for protection, the results of the exercise being irrelevant with our team members hurt and in grave danger.
"When Kyr dragged me into Githere's main camp, covered in dried blood we had collected from trapped animals we had slaughtered earlier that night, they didn't need to hear the story twice. They left Kyr to watch over me, and all of them charged over into the place where we had told them Jaren was fighting off the creature. I think Githere really enjoyed the idea of being able to save Jaren from a situation he couldn't handle himself, probably so he could lord it over him later. It'd also make a good story for him to tell after militia training was over, how he saved the famed Jaren Strasert from certain doom.
"Well, I imagine he was in for quite the shock when they hit the treeline. Right before we had left, I had lit a slow-burning fuse that was connected to a series of trenches and pits we had spent two days to set up. Kyr and I had spent quite some time gathering all the materials needed for it, Kyr spending a lot of time making pitch and myself refining some substances out of rocks and plants in the area. I mentioned I spent a lot of time learning things from my mother's friends and their daughters, right? One of them was an apothecary, and the things I had learned from her came in very useful for what we did. Certain substances when added to flame cause it to burn a different color. I had ground these into powder and placed them in little pouches we made out of tree bark and twigs. We strung those up in the trees a little higher than eye level, and I had mixed the bulk of the powder for blue fire with pine needles and dry bark that we placed all along the trenches. They were all connected to that slow-burning fuse we had lit earlier, and it was all soaked with pitch.
"We heard later that when the fuse caught, they were right in the middle of it looking for Jaren. Imagine being suddenly surrounded by a ring of leaping blue flames while balls of green, red, and purple fire dance all around. That's what Githere's alliance saw, and they absolutely panicked. As far as we heard, they ended up sprinting all the way back to their camp only to find Kyr and I missing, an enormous pool of blood-soaked dirt, and three flaming effigies burning in their main fire. Now until then, nothing had ever bothered them in their little safe haven, so to suddenly have that rule broken after seeing the colored flame spectacle was too much. They scattered all over the training area and hid until the instructors rounded us all up the next morning. Even then, they were all trying to convince the instructors they should send out an armed search party for us, only to be laughed off and told to wait and see.
"You should have seen their faces at the assembly area when all three of us were standing at the center of it with far and away the biggest pile of map and object bundles out of anyone there. We were tired, dirty, and I was still reeking of dried animal blood, but we somehow managed to smile as they stared at us in shock. In the panic after they had all reached their campsite, Jaren had circled around to meet up with us in our hiding spot a short distance south, and we all ran back to grab their bundles before running nonstop for almost an hour south to what was probably the worst spot in the entire training area. After a short break, we buried all of the bundles we had taken and spent the rest of the night raiding any camps we could find for their bundles if they still had them. As the sun started coming up, some of the instructors found us and we led them to the burial site so we could gather all of our ill-gained loot and bring it back to the assembly area. There was only one team that had made it back earlier than us, although we definitely had more collected more bundles than they had."
"Not like they were really competing with us, anyways," Jaren added. "They weren't exactly at the top of the cohort, but they were still a respectable distance away from the bulk of the other teams. We were on good terms with them though, so we went over to shake hands and spent the time waiting for everyone else to show up swapping stories and congratulating one another on making it out still in possession of our own bundles and taking some from other teams too. One of them had some smoked fish meat she had dried early on in the exercise that they never ended up eating, so we sat around chewing on that while we all talked about what we would do first thing when we went back to barracks for the final week of militia training."
"I ate," Kyr said cheerfully. "After all that running and fighting I had really worked up quite an appetite."
"Ah yes, I seem to remember the cooks wondering if it was alright to give you any more when you came up to them for the fourth time with an empty tray," Lynia said, rolling her eyes. "After the instructors had assembled everyone together, they tallied up our bundles, and congratulated us for being the highest scoring team of our cohort and as far back as any of the instructors present could recall. Sergeant-Instructor Holg even told us he'd buy us all drinks after we were finished with training, and sure enough the first thing he did at the party after we finished was to buy the three of us a round of drinks." She smiled brightly. "I remember my mother and father being so surprised when that happened; the most grizzled-looking, weather-bitten soldier in the room was buying their daughter a drink and complimenting her on her performance in the culminating field exercise! I think they had an idea that I could handle myself, but they certainly didn't expect it to be to that extent. Grandmother just laughed and said something to Holg that I couldn't make out but actually made him smile."
"Other than that, I think that's the only story worth having me tell instead of either of these two," Lynia said. "Let's move on along down the line and get to Kyr."
"I'm not sure if there's all that much for me to tell, honestly," Kyr said modestly. "I grew up in a fair-sized town maybe two or three miles away from the area Lynia and Jaren lived, in a spectacularly normal family. My father is a carpenter, and my mother is a seamstress. Neither of them had a military background either, and as far as anyone could've guessed it looked like I was going to follow suit. The only thing that really helped pull me in that direction was the fact that I love being outdoors and had ever since I was old enough to run and climb trees."
"Come on, now," Lynia said jocularly. "There were other reasons, I'm sure. Wasn't it you who said that you weren't ready to settle down during the prime years of your youth?"
"How in the name of the ancestors do you manage to remember these things?" The question was phrased with some anger, but the fact that Kyr was blushing at the same time took the impact out of it. "I was drunk when I said that. Besides, I can't believe you remember that, weren't all of us amazingly drunk?"
"Ah, so you admit that's a reason you joined up then!" Lynia had a smile on her face that was between teasing and devious. Kyr attempted to respond, but was stuck at the first step of getting words to come out of his mouth in an audible fashion.
"You're an absolute demon of a woman sometimes," Jaren said with an amused shake of the head. Lynia threw her head back and let out a loud unrestrained laugh. "Still, I'm impressed you remember that too. As Kyr said, we all did have a lot to drink that night. I'm surprised that I personally can remember anything from then."
"I always did handle drink better than all of you," Lynia gloated. "I was drunk though, that much is right, but not to the point where I would forget things."
"We must have some drinks together, then," Karura said airily. Touka made a concerned noise in the back of her throat. "I wouldn't if I were you, she's got an inhuman tolerance for liquor,"she said, frowning.
"There'll be plenty of time for that later, we're almost there," Kyr said. The group looked up, and sure enough they had reached the outskirts of the capital city. Thinking back, Touka realized that they had been talking for quite some time, and they had already seen the city itself when they had reached the top of the incline previously.
Going through the streets, they drew the attention of the city dwellers like they had earlier in the day at the border village. Jaren was particularly active in replying politely to the greetings of well-wishers and diplomatically replying to any questions directed their way. Several of the merchants waved enthusiastically to Karura and Touka, recognizing familiar faces that had been away for a while. Touka couldn't be sure, but she swore that she saw one of the local liquor merchants grinning madly as he darted back into his storefront upon seeing Karura.
Finally reaching the castle gates, they were briefly stopped by the captain of the guard, who let them in easily upon seeing Touka and Karura accompanying the new arrivals. He accompanied them up to the main meeting hall, a familiar sight for both Touka and Karura in days gone by. Inside, Benawi was already waiting for them, seated in front of the throne that now belonged to Oboro, although it was vacant at the moment. Touka thought he looked a bit out of place, dressed in loosely fitting ceremonial robes rather than the closer-fitting simple garb he had worn as leader of Tusukuru's military forces. Another man about the same age was seated to the front and left of Benawi along the side of the floor covering that led to the throne. He was dressed similarly to the rest of the Free Company members, except that his uniform seemed a touch more formal than the rest. Resting on the ground next to him was a sheathed sword. He stood up in a fluid motion upon seeing the group enter, and he walked over to clasp hands with Jaren, Lynia, and Kyr in turn.
"Glad to see Fifth Team in good health," he said. "No problems along the way?"
"Nothing bigger than a brief scuffle with some rowdy locals after these two, Captain," Jaren said, indicating Touka and Karura. "They warranted some wounding here and there, but nothing too serious."
"Well, I'd probably be a little more upset if we weren't trying to spread rumors about our presence. Ah, but where are my manners, Regent Benawi, I'd like to introduce my subordinates from the Free Company's Fifth Team. I present First Sergeant Jaren Strasert, Leading Sergeant Lynia Milthas, and Sergeant Kyr Ilvos." As he indicated each one of them, they stepped forward and bowed to Benawi, who acknowledged them all with a polite bow of the head.
"Welcome to our land. As already mentioned, your Captain informed me of the plan to pass through a border village and let the people know of your presence. I trust that went well?"
"We got into a fight along the way, but I think overall the rumors that will spread as a result outweigh the harm we did. We were careful not to inflict any permanent injuries," Jaren said. "Our appearance in the border village went as well as could be hoped for. The villagers took the news that their men wouldn't be called up and left to defend their homes instead went over quite well."
"Excellent, I hope to keep the populace's morale high throughout the coming months," Benawi said, relieved. "The soldiers of the Capital Guard are one thing, but the people are not so conditioned to deal with hardships brought about by fighting."
"For what it's worth, I can give you my word my people will do everything they can to prevent that," Treyar spoke up. "Although I've only asked the Fifth Team to be here with me at present, I have already requested additional reinforcements to join us as fast as they can. Additionally, several other teams are already in place around Tusukuru's borders to interdict any supplies or reinforcements the threat may send here. Gods and ancestors willing, they'll help stem the flow of men and war materials to an amount that we can definitely handle."
"I leave it in your hands, then," Benawi replied. "The Capital Guard is at your disposal for any assistance you may need."
"My thanks, Regent," Treyar said with a bow. "At this time, I can say that we will need a small supplementary group to bolster our strength. We will most likely run a selection process on a cohort of men who are recommended by their officers, the current military leader, or who can pass a skills and fitness screening."
"I'll have the current military leader himself speak with you first thing tomorrow morning to arrange for it, as well as have him give you any personal recommendations he has," Benawi said, standing up from his seat. "Until then, let's conclude any official business for now." He walked to where Touka and Karura were standing off to the side in the hall. "There are some who can barely wait any longer to see the two of you," Benawi said to them with a smirk. "After all, you've been away for quite some time. Come on out, you three!"
"Karura! Touka!" The voice belonged to an extremely fast-moving blur of silver hair and black feathers that collided with Touka and knocked her to the ground. Karura had managed to step out of the way and smiled a rather smug smile at the tangled mass of limbs and feathers next to her.
"Ouch," Touka said with a grimace as she sat up. "Kamyu, is that you?" With a flap of her black wings, the girl jumped up cheerfully. "That's right, Touka! Long time no see, huh?" Touka got to her feet and carefully looked her over. She had grown taller in the year since they were gone, and she could see that she had been growing out her silver hair as well.
"Are you alright, Touka?" The concerned voice that made itself heard was Eruruu coming around the doorway that Kamyu had so quickly burst through. She seemed taller as well, although her hair was more or less the same way it had been before she had left. Aruruu followed her older sister into the room closely. She was looking more and more like Eruruu now, although she still seemed quiet as ever.
"Hey, come on, say something," Eruruu urged. "They've been gone for a year now, so the least you could do is greet them."
Aruruu looked at them blankly. "Welcome back," she said simply. Karura strolled over and placed a hand on her head. "Thank you very much, young lady," Karura said as she smiled and tousled the young girl's hair playfully.
"Welcome back, you two," Eruruu and Kamyu said together. Touka and Kaura smiled at the trio and at each other. It was good to be back home.