Chapter 11: A Quick Intermission

Makeshift Encampment: 20 miles from the Trost District

With the substantial progress the slowly growing squad made towards the Trost District, Liette decided to camp out for the night before they proceeded. Despite her not being as trusting as she thought of Irene, it proved to be a useful opportunity for squad mates to familiarize themselves with their peers.

Nelson, Kristell, and Peter were discussing what their favorite kind of pie was, which was, not quite what Liette had in mind, but it was a start. Irene had taken a conversation with Rivaille about something she had no knowledge of, and that left her with Irene's younger sister, Elsa.

Elsa seemed a couple of years younger than Liette, but she acted around half of Liette's age around Rivaille. Like her older sister, Elsa had dark brown hair tied into a short braid that was left loose behind her back. There was a purple bandana wrapped around her neck to indicate that she used it upon occasion. Her uniform seemed very light. She wore a loose long-sleeved shirt with a belt wrapped around her shoulder to hold small weapons. Her pants stopped slightly below the knees, and her plain shoes gave the impression of agility.

Both of them sat there while they ate in silence. Liette had many questions about the First Crime Lord, but she did not want to ask a question Elsa wasn't permitted to answer to.

"If you want to ask me something, go ahead" Elsa noticed Liette's asking mood and casually let her know that she could ask to her content.

Liette was taken by surprise, as, Elsa's sense of gut was extremely proficient. To be able to just "know", or rather, have a hunch of what's going on was extremely valuable. It occurred to Liette that Elsa was Irene's most trusted and best spy, so maybe that was one of the reasons why she objected to Elsa tagging along.

Rambling on and on, Liette eventually stopped and asked a question, "Was Irene, always in this kind of business?"

Before answering, Elsa took a bite of the vegetable soup they had prepared for dinner. Liette was afraid that she might have asked something she shouldn't have, but Elsa spoke up, "No, she wasn't."

Not expecting the answer from Elsa, Liette set her metal bowl down on her lap to listen. Elsa didn't say anything further and continued to eat.

"What?" It was somewhat snobby, but she seemed rather absent of the fact that Liette wanted to know more.

"Umm….Could you elaborate?" Liette asked.

"I could…" Elsa replied slyly, as if she were a mischievous youthful child.

"Will you?"

"Maybe~" Now it really sounded like she were plotting something clever, singing it in a singsonging fashion.

Liette was a not too amused by her games, "What do you mean by maybe?"

"Can you eat my carrots for me?" Elsa requested, holding her bowl up. All her carrot chunks were clumped together along one side of the soup.

Even though she wasn't in the mood to deal with childlike shenanigans like this, Liette sighed as she scooped up Elsa's carrots into her soup, "There, happy?"

Elsa nodded as she began to talk again, "Father was the one who headed the guild before Irene. When she was a child, she lived mostly a normal life. Or so I was told"

"As you were told?" Liette asked, not understanding what she meant.

"Irene is twice as old as I am. By the time I was born, father had already died" Elsa said, somewhat casually. It was to indicate her lack of relationship with her father from not knowing him personally. "From then on, the only family I knew was Mother, Irene and the rest of the guild."

It wasn't expected that Elsa would dive this far to tell Liette her personal life, but Liette kept silent anyway, curious to know more about this mysterious woman who was known as the First Crime Lord.

"After father died, Mother was the one to take up the guild. Unfortunately, Mother committed suicide when I was five." At this point, Elsa's tone began to delve into pain, "I can't imagine the pain sister must have gone through, and every day ever since I learned of this for months, I couldn't help but feel guilty for what pain I was mostly spared of."

"Elsa…" Liette eyed Irene, who was smiling gently staring intently at the bonfire while listening to Rivaille. She had judged Irene too soon and suddenly began to feel guilty for doing so.

"She cares for her family, and she considers him family. If she wants to help him and you against the Paramount, then I am nothing to stop her." Even though Elsa had drifted into a more age appropriate speech, her childlike instincts still permeated through, "That idiot Rivaille though. He still lets the past guide his habits"

"Past?" Truth be told, Liette didn't know a whole lot about Rivaille's past. The only thing she knew was that he used to be part of the crime world, the world they were fighting. It seemed that every time she tried to ask him about it, he would dodge it and go onto something else.

Elsa quickly covered her mouth before turning away, "I think I've already said too much"

"Oh?" Liette replied "I suppose that's…" Her sentence was cut off by a quick squeal as Liette slightly turned her legs away from Hooter, moving her bowl in case her soup would spill.

Hooter was treading his way next to Liette, and her reaction quickly gave away that she was scared.

"Ho…?" Elsa glare turned mischievous as an idea was planted in her head, "It's just a pigeon, there's nothing to be worried about" Playing dumb was one thing Elsa was good at as she picked up the wandering pigeon. "Nothing dangerous about him at all! See?" She asked while bringing Hooter closer and closer to Liette.

"Waaah!" Liette cowered, covering her ears while lifting her knees up into a slightly fetal position. "No need to be scared Liette… no need to be scared…. Norma will shoo away all the birds for you…" she whispered to herself.

"W-wait… your serious? You're scared of birds?" Elsa realized as she released Hooter away from Liette. "Sorry…"

Liette nodded, sighing as she returned to normal, "It's fine. It's just a childhood thing that I can't really shake away."

ooo

The conversations that were held throughout the night seemed extremely awkward to Liette. It was understandable though, as, they had just formed. It would take time for them to get adjusted to each other and learn to cooperate as friends rather than acquaintances.

Liette sighed and silently apologized to Irene in her head. That's to teach her to judge people beforehand ever again. She was lying there, under the stars, listening to her own train of thought wander and wander.

The camp was quiet, and amidst listening to everyone quietly snore, Liette realized something about this campaign she had undertaken responsibility for. "Can I do it?" She doubted her ability to fight this organization of mankind's deepest desires. In a sense, she was scared. Not only because she was staring in the face sin in human form, but she was scared of finding out the answers.

"…that if you were to hear your tale in full, you would go insane" Irene's words spoke to her as she turned her head to were Irene was sleeping. It was painful enough to not know and wonder about who she was. But it seemed even more frightful, and especially painful to know, experience, and then to wonder about whom she was.

With her mind droning back and forth, Liette herself droned onto sleep, hoping that her tired consciousness may find momentary peace.

"Waaaah! Norma!"

"Liette? What's the matter?"

The young Liette was crying, wiping the tears from her frightful eyes as she dug her face into Norma's arms. Her muffled voice rang, "The bird! I-It scared me!" With the terrifying experience replaying in her head, Liette began to cry even harder.

"Oh Liette, don't cry." Norma's ever gentle tone attempted to lay rest to Liette's fear. It stung Norma's heart to see Liette's teary eyed face, "If a bird ever scares you, then call my name and I'll shoo it away for you."

"B-but what if you're not around Norma?"

Norma smiled, unbeknownst to Liette that it was a painful smile, "Whenever I'm not around, cover your ears and whisper to yourself that it will be okay. And always remember to stay brave. No matter how scary things get, remember that everyone will be there to help you."

"Be… brave?" Liette's crying was momentarily averted as she asked about what Norma was encouraging her to do.

She nodded with a smile, "Be brave and the birds won't want to scare you." Wiping the tears from Liette's cheeks, Norma pressed her lips softly on her head, and whispered in audible to Liette.

"Be brave my little girl, and, even if you still feel scared, you will find courage."

A/N: Hello all! I'm back with another chapter. Now this one wasn't intended to be as part of the main story, rather, an event that occurs in between main events. A sort of downtime, or slice of life period you might say. The purpose of these chapters is to develop and reveal background info on new characters that we meet, and sometimes, something about Liette herself. I will be doing these kinds of short chapters in between the districts, that way to give a little bit of time to relax before the story picks up again.

Anyway, just a little short telling us a little bit about Irene. I know it seems a little bit out of place to include a slice of life-ish chapter, but honestly, what else would they do day to day? It's not all action or drama. They're people too after all!

Anyway, don't take this chapter too seriously since I wrote it on the whim, not much planning involved at all. Just sit back, relax and enjoy, and I will see you next time!