Chapter 33: Sweet Surprises

The ride ran rhythmically, and Edie fell asleep more than once. She held to the captain's back lightly and rested her head on his shoulder, and the warmth and movement lulled her like the sea. Her mind wasn't tired, and she scolded herself for being so insensitive right after a memorial, but as the hour's ride turned into three hours, she couldn't help but nod off. The captain said hardly a word (or maybe talk a mile a minute when she was dozing), just kept his eyes fixed forward, on the melting sun, well after it joined with the earth.

Eventually, the incline increased; against the darkened sky, a plateau came into view. It remained a speck on the horizon for another half hour before increasing into a hollow cover. The road snaked up the side and snuck through wooden fences, before dropping drastically into a base. Barracks, open grounds, a running course, stables, and some larger buildings pressed close together. Edie clung tighter, afraid that if she fell, it would be a swift end through a broken neck. The road evened at the bottom, and the captain rode straight for the largest entrance.

"This will take some time," he admitted. "But there's plenty to see."

Edie rubbed her eyes, then stretched. "Is your business confidential?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then." She dismounted, straightened his jacket, then brushed back his hair. "Knock 'em dead."

The captain gave a brief, tight smile; he kissed her quickly and hurried away.

Edie watched him until he disappeared, his sure strides not at all betraying that he'd ridden for nearly six hours, collectively. The time didn't bother him, but she took a while to stretch her arms and move just slightly. She stroked his horse's neck. "Even after being a farmer's daughter for this long, I'm still stiff from a little ride." The war horse turned its head and nuzzled her shoulder, so she searched the saddlebags and found something sweet. "You still haven't got a name, have you? I suppose you both know each other well enough. You come right at his whistle."

She stroked its mane and found just a few tiny knots, supposing the Scouts took excellent care of their horses. "Does Levi take care of you himself?" she asked, but the horse didn't respond, simply staring straight forward. Edie shook her head, undid the reins, and let him to a grassy patch near a tree. He needed a little prompting, but soon stuck his nose in a spring of dandelions and chomped away. She went back to her knotwork, thought the tree's leaves limited light.

"A tree in the middle of camp," she mused. "Seems like it'd be in the way, especially if you're in a hurry. What kind of base wouldn't have cut it down yet?"

The tree was short, yet its leaves stretched twenty feet in diameter. Its leaves were as big as her hand, with a tan underside and dark green top. They stretched in an imperfect oval, with wilted grass and smooth dirt underneath. The bark, however, bore a curiosity. The base and branches had a jagged structure, like lightning bolts shooting from the roots to the sky (a terrifying, [hopefully hypothetical] phenomenon); sap seeped from certain crevasses near the ground, and in the branches, shadows danced as the wind led lighter sticks in a waltz. But near the center (taller than her head), the bark was totally removed, with bits of wood littered on the ground. The carnage was sparse in some places, ravenous in others, and nowhere even. Terrible marks jutted into the wood and threatened to cut into the heart of the poor survivalist tree. Edie stepped around the nameless horse and ran her fingers through the pattern. Something sharp, perhaps a knife or axe, had cut through the tree, something with terrible aim.

All of a sudden, a girl's scream echoed in the air, followed by silence.

Edie looked past the tree and examined her area. Two rows of buildings, from what she could see, the last set of which were longhouses with railed decks. A dirt path led between each row. She tightly tied the horse to the tree and hurried toward the noise. The surrounding caverns didn't help with any echo, but thankfully, she spotted a tiny light between two of the buildings on the left row. As she drew closer to the light, scuffling sounds and little whispers gave their position away. Around the corner were three teenagers on the ground, trying to stuff a much smaller teenager through a window.

"Sam, if you don't get your hand off my butt, I'm gonna kick your nose!" the little one in the window whispered.

"It's not like I've got anything else to shove you in with!" A little foot swung and nailed Sam straight in the nose. He screeched again.

"If you both don't stop making all this ruckus, we're going to get caught," one of the girls hissed.

"Your light will get you caught before that," Edie remarked, and the little crew froze, aside from the little one still kicking his feet."

The girl grumbled for a moment and kicked another's ankle. "You see? This is why everyone in Barracks 1 calls us mountain goats. None of you have any covert sense."

But one of the boys held out a shaky finger, his wide eyes trained on black dress. "You're—you're not a cadet." He suddenly stood erect, with a hand positioned at his forehead. "Sir! Apologizes for being out of bed at this hour."

"What?" The little one stopped wriggling. "Is it Shadis? Or Mammon? How bad is it?"

The other two on the ground saluted, too, but the girl studied her curiously. "Pardon the insubordination and ignorance, sir. I'm not familiar with your title or rank."

Edie surveyed their clothes and age. Her eyes widened. "You're cadets." The realization hit like a northern wind. "This is the cadet training camp."

The wind departed and convinced all air from her lungs to join it. This was the Cadet Camp, and given there was only one at the military's disposal, for cadets in all three years of training, she supposed Jamie must be here. From his letters, she'd gathered that the cadets spent one year in the alcove, another in the snowy mountains, and a third in a forest, perfecting ODM maneuvering. He'd not been gone more than a year yet, so he must be there. Edie looked back at the longhouses, where hundreds of sleeping cadets must lie. One of these barracks held her brother, and she realized with a start that it had been ten months. Ten long months, with sparse letters on his end. She'd lain on the reasoning that training took up most of his time and he needed to get comfortable with his comrades, but here four of them were, sneaking into a kitchen, with both time and mischief on their hands. She wrung Miss Sari's dress around her pale knuckles. They weren't really siblings, and perhaps he'd come to realize this. She was a tenant, who happened to gain the approval of his parents. They were close, but perhaps not close enough to slip into training in the middle of the night and disrupt whatever relationships he was in the middle of building.

Levi, she mused. What've you gotten me into, you and your late night meetings.

But she was here, and she could hear the morning conversations already. Some tiny, ghostlike lady in mourning clothes broke into the Scout Camp, foiled their plots, and disappeared. Just being as short as her would tip off Jamie, and while he'd have the benefit of anonymity, perhaps he'd wonder why she didn't come to see him. Her stomach flipped around, pulling backward, but she reasoning into going forward.

"Do you know—can you get him down from there?" The two boys began pulling their comrade from the window. "What are you all doing out here?"

"Trying to put a smelly boot in the kitchen cabinet, sir!" The girl still saluted and had another hand behind her back. "We've got a fierce rivalry with Barracks 1 and are in competition to put the worst thing in the kitchen without getting caught."

"We're not stealing food," one of the boys mumbled. "Swear on our life."

"On our mother's lives!" The little one fell from the window and saluted from the ground.

Edie betrayed a smile. "Don't let me stop you."

"The rules say that if you're spotted, you're foiled," the little one snapped. "Sir. So we're finished. That was our last resort."

"Don't light a candle next time," she offered. "Or bribe someone on KP."

The little one's jaw dropped. "Of course! They'd be thrilled to jab Barracks 1, unless one of those snobs was on duty."

"Don't call them snobs, one of the boys said, relaxing his stance. "Sure, they're stuck up, but they're good at what they do."

"Dear God, Free. You couldn't hold a rivalry if it was nailed to your hands." The girl finally put down her salute. "So if you're not an officer, and you're not a cadet, who are you?"

"I'm a Cartwell. Do you all know Jamie? Is he here?"

"Jamie?" The little one scuttled up. "He's in our barracks." He squinted at her. "How'd you get in here?"

Edie paused for just a moment and considered the group. They all wore nighttime clothes with boots, aside from the girl, who wore civilian garb. If they were in Jamie's barracks, they might be his close friends. From his letters, it seemed he was purposefully vague with his peers. Training was rough, and anything could garner a nickname. He'd said a little about the girl who infuriated him (but Edie's couldn't imagine that would be this one here, given the breaking and entering) and some about training's rigor. Erwin had used him on a few errands, but he hadn't shared that with his team. And while the great Captain having a girlfriend was common knowledge in the Scout Regiment, it might not've spread to the Cadet Corp. And gossip surely spread like wildfire among teenagers. She supposed silence was the better option. "That's neither here nor there. Is he here?"

"Yeah." The little one checked both ways for watchful eyes and crossed to the longhouses. He turned and held out his hand. "I'm Alicent, by the way. Alicent Inda. My father was one of the men sent back to take Wall Maria. Probably got eaten in the fray."

"We call him Bush, on account of him being no taller than a blueberry bush." One of the boys on her right graciously took a kick of dirt on his pant and held out his hand. "The name's Samor Tingley, from Wall Sina. I was actually going straight into the Military Police, but your brother convinced me to join the Scouts after graduation."

"Yeah, because you're in the bottom ten instead of the top." The girl smirked. "It's either titan fodder or wall duty. At least you'll die next to a friend."

Samor held out an arm to the lady. "And this is Kacra Allyn. She should've been a comedian. Or a peddler. Anything other than tormenting us."

"Whatever. I can't help it that you all swing like a hoard of sheep."

"I'm good at ODM!" The last boy stomped and crossed his arms. "Don't lump me with these nobodies. Only reason I'm in Barracks 3 is because of the stunt you and Toia pulled."

"Danny Toia's a bit of a daredevil," Samor explained. "He's ran more miles than all Barracks 3 combined, and that's saying something. And this is Freeman. He thinks he's better than everyone."

"Because I am! If my father knew that I was rooming with titan food, he'd have Shadis himself put in prison." Freeman looked over his shoulder, back at Edie. "Thanks to your relation, pretty much everybody in Barracks 3 is planning on joining the Scouts, even though most of them would excel in the Garrison. If you're mediocre, fine,

"Oh, did I neglect to mention that Jamie's beaten him in nearly every field training and test?" Samor chimed in, "because he has."

"Right," the stuffy boy huffed, ran up the stairs, and threw open the door. "Cartwell! I've got more trouble because of you."

"Would someone please remind the hothead that we're still out after hours and can very much get punished for that?" Kacra ran past the others and into the dorm. "I've got a very clean record, thank you."

Edie leaned over to Samor. "If he's such a suck up, why's he out pulling pranks with you?"

"Well, everybody in Barracks 1 calls him a mountain goat now that he's with us, and he's trying to prove them wrong."

"By sticking a smelly boot in the kitchen?"

Samor shrugged. "He's going through a lot right now."

"Sure."

The rest entered, to the light of a single candle. The few in beds by the doors lifted their heads expectantly, with hardly any sleep in their eyes. "Did you do it?" One whispered softly.

"No. Sam squealed like a girl, and Bush is scared of the dark," Kacra called from further in.

Samor pointed at the heads. "That's Mason, Ileasha, and Danny. There's four more in here, but they're probably dead asleep. We split training a week ago, and they had the mud hike today."

"That's a fifty mile run with forty pounds of luggage on your shoulders." Bush stretched his shoulders. "Barely recovered."

"Yeah, 'cause your luggage weighed more than you," one of the newly named heads chimed. Only Samor's hand kept Bush from scuttling up the bunk and taking a swing.

"Bold words from all y'all," he retaliated, and stuck a thumb at Edie. "She's nearly as short as I am!"

"Bush!"

"What? It's just Jamie's…well, what are you?"

"Older sister." All those in the cabin suddenly froze and turned their eyes to Edie, even Freeman and Kacra in the back. She clasped her hands together and looked at Bush. "You said he was here?"

"You're Edie?"

"…yes."

"The titan killer?"

Freeman scoffed and broke the stare. "She didn't kill a titan. Jamie just told us that so we'd think he's cool."

"No! You did, didn't you?" Bush wriggled free of Samor. "This was before you were in Barracks 3, but Jamie described it all. You led the titan away from the village on horseback, without any grappling gear or anything, and rode for miles and miles until someone from the Garrison rode up. But then the Garrison guy needed help—because, let's face it, they're all wimps—and stabbed it with a tree branch!"

"You can't stab a titan with a tree," Kacra argued.

"C'mon, Edie, tell us!"

"Tell us what color its eyes were," one of the top bunkers said eagerly.

Edie swung her head from side to side. "I really just want to see Jamie."

"HEY! APPLE JAMMY!" Bush bolted to the back of the cabin, accompanied by stressed shh's.

"Were they gray, blue, green, black? Red? One of our teachers said you could tell how bloodthirsty a titan is by the color of its eyes. Is that true? Was it out for blood?"

"Dan, that's a myth, and you know it." But even Kacra turned back to Edie. "Did you get a good look at it? What class was it? Do you know what the classes are? It's about how tall it was in meters—"

"I'm sure Jamie's famous titan-killing sister knows the meter classes." Freeman took off his boots, rather furiously tossing one under his bed. "You know, if there was a titan in a civilian territory, it would've made the papers. Not to mention my father, who works in city center, would've heard about it."

"Free, for the last time, nobody cares about your stuck-up father."

"He's a Military Police veteran, and you will show him respect!"

"I will, once he's done something to earn it." Samor turned back to Edie. "Like kill a titan."

"How'd you pierce its nape?" The face called Danny hung over the edge of his bed, arms dangling. "Did you have to climb up it?"

"Weren't you listening?" another face in the dark responded. "A Scout came along and killed the rest of it. Did you get to talk to the Garrison guard? Did he ask you to marry him?"

"Good God, Illy."

"Ileasha's a bit of a romantic," Samor whispered, as Kacra kept cawing. "Doyle's got a big crush on her. He's asleep somewhere back there."

"How sweet."

"She's got no idea. And he's shy."

"What a shame. Are you all planning on doing something?"

"We'll see. It's only been ten months, after all."

Bush barreled back in the room. "Are all Cartwells impossible sleepers? This one took a trumpet to wake up!"

Edie looked eagerly at the doorway as the others continued bickering, and there her little brother was. She hardly recognized him. He still had his sandy hair, cut short for training, and piercing gray eyes under tired lids. But he was more than a foot taller, with toned muscles and a formed face. He looked so much older, so much wiser, yet so much like the little kid she knew. He'd been ready to be a Scout in his heart all those months ago, but his letters didn't let on that he was nearly ready for it in body and mind. He rubbed his face with both hands, and she noticed callouses, cuts, and strains. He ran his hands back toward his neck and surveyed the room, suddenly freezing and dropping his arms to his side. "Edie?"

The room stopped chattering, and Edie pressed a hand against her mouth to keep from crying. He was grown. Larmie and Hajule wouldn't believe that this was their little boy. No one back home would believe this was the same little kid. Nobody else made good on their promises, after all. Yet here he was. Her stomach and head still spun, but she didn't care whether he was upset with her or if he got a silly nickname or was even indifferent. The sight was enough. "Hey, Jamie."

"Holy shit." He looked like he might start crying, too. "You're—you're here!" He rubbed his mouth, huffed a laugh, and surrounded her in a hug. He wasn't so big that she couldn't wrap her arms around him, so her fingers locked around his back and didn't intend to let go. He smelt of pine, of teenage sweat, of reddish clay, of dewdrop mornings, of terrifying confidence. She tilted her head to breathe a little better and heard him sniffling. A few tears fell onto her cheek. "I can't believe it. You're here."

Edie rubbed her eyes on his shirt. "Surprise."

"No kidding!"

He squeezed her once more and let go, and she wiped a few of his tears away. "You've grown up so much."

"TELL US ABOUT THE TITAN!" Bush screeched, and he would've jumped between them if Samor hadn't held him back.

Jamie ignored him, his eyes bright and dancing. He hurried to the door and motioned her outside, leaving all the rest in oblivion. "C'mon. There's a spot we can talk and not be seen. I'm…not really supposed to be out here."

"Me, neither. Well, not officially." She turned to the door, too, leaving a screeching Bush and a wide eyed cabin behind. "I think I was supposed to stay with the horse."

"The horse?" But for a minute, they focused on getting somewhere secure. Jamie climbed on the railing and up on the roof before turning to help his sister (who certainly didn't need it, but let him practice being a gentleman). They carefully walked along the longhouse and came to a towering pine tree. Closer to the top was a cluster of branches, carefully hiding eyes from the camp and in sight of the waning crescent. "I can't believe you figured out where the camp is. Honestly, I hoped you would. Every time Erwin came, I thought, maybe we'll stop by the farm, since he knows where it is. But half of training is being away from what you've always known. I don't think that means family, but going home is frowned upon. But I'd hoped you'd come on Daria for a covert visit."

"Our family is pretty good at hiding out in trees."

"That's what I'm saying." He noticed her garb. "You're in black."

"Yeah, the Scout regiment had a memorial service today. Given that I'm not officially a member, I thought this would be best. I got it from Mr. Solway's new wife."

"Oh? How is she?"

"She's...excitable." Edie played with the lace. "Miss Sari Haevyn has taken over much of our free time, given the lovely dinners she makes and Mr. Solway's happy invitations."

"You said he's building a house."

"Yes. And he's putting in a little pond, too. That's new."

"Here I was, his surrogate nephew, and he never built a pond for me."

"Please. You already had a swimming hole in the middle of the woods. This one's just for frogs and crickets."

"Sure, sure. But how are you here? I'm guessing you can't stay long. It's nearly midnight."

"Is it?" Edie took note of the moon. "Right. Well, I was at the memorial with Levi, and he needed to—"

"The captain?"

She blushed. "Yes, the captain, and he said he needed to talk to someone named Shadis. So we came here. I had no idea that you would be here."

"Yeah, well, it is the training grounds, and he's the Commander in charge." Jamie kicked his bare feet. "Don't know what he could have to talk to the Commander about. I mean, he did lead the Scouts for a few years back, but I thought that was before the captain joined." He crossed to another branch where he could stand closer. "And by the captain, of course, I mean your boy-friend."

"Stop it." She tried to kick his gut, but he swiftly moved out of reach. "You're faster than you used to be. What kind of training do they have you do?"

"Oh, you've gotten away with avoidance with mom and dad and Mr. Solway and everybody, haven't you?" He lifted himself up, swung his legs over, and hung upside down. She put a hand on his cheek and laughed; he swayed back and forth, sending her heart in a frenzy. They were so high up. "Everybody else talks about something else. But I'm not everybody else. I know we've got just a few minutes before you have to run back to your lovely captain and head back home, since it's a long ride. Mom and dad are probably worried sick. Not to mention he's tying up the commanders, so once we hear them chatting outside, we both need to rush back to our posts."

Edie scrunched her lips. "You must think your clever."

"It's all strategy. You know that." He swung once more, then held still. "Man, I can't believe you're here. It's been forever."

"I know."

"So? Your captain-boy-friend?"

"It's going well."

"I'll say. It's been just as long as I've been in training, right?"

"Mm hmm."

"Like, I don't want the details, but what's up with all that?"

"Is this why you wanted to be out of earshot?"

Jamie waved his hands at his barracks and shook his head. "They don't know anything. Were they all asking you about the titan from a year ago?"

"That's all they talked about."

"See, I didn't hardly bring that up. The whole first month was awfully grueling, and we didn't talk about anything other than how bad it was. Thirty people left, in just that first month, to go work for the government or something. Anyway, once we settled in, we start talking about our families, and I get to know Samor, you know. His father died soon after Wall Maria fell, so while he hasn't seen a titan, he sure wants to fight them. I thought, here's a guy who'll appreciate my titan-killing sister. I don't know if you could tell, but it's not really popular to talk about your family and miss home and stuff."

"Yeah." Edie hugged her knee closer. "I thought you wouldn't be thrilled I was here."

"Are you kidding? Those idiots miss home more than I do. I've just got the guts to talk about you, and mom, and dad, and Mr. Solway. I feel awful for the poor chumps they've got back home, who're forgotten the second they leave home. Their loss. Plus, even if they tease me for years and years, I'm still glad you came."

Her heart swelled. "Good."

"But I think Samor will appreciate this, so I tell him the story. He believes it, a hundred percent. Problem is, he turns around at dinner and tells the seven others at his table that I've got a titan-killing sister. Then all those seven people turn and tell another seven, and again and again, until everybody knows. Most people in Barracks 3 know it's true, but most everyone else thinks it's a fib. I couldn't care less."

"Do they think you're a liar?"

"That's the tricky part. They know my word's good as gold, so it's a conundrum. Even Commander Shadis doesn't know what to make of it."

"So they really didn't spread the story."

"Nope. I think your handsome, benevolent captain—" She swatted again, missing again "—didn't care for the attention, and the Garrison guy didn't want his superiors to hear about it."

"Erwin heard."

Jamie moved to her left side. "Tell me about it. After he started grabbing me for Scout events—just little ones, nothing outside the walls, but to get my hands dirty in ODM gear—rumors spread like wildfire. A few people said I was his spy, to see if training was up to par."

"Are you?"

"A little, I guess. I've got a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I'm excited." While standing on a thin branch, he waved his hands. "But that's off topic! The captain! You guys are still dating?"

"Yes, but it's not a big deal. We've only been on six or seven actual dates. We hardly get to be together, with his schedule. It's for the best, anyway."

"For the best?" Jamie's eyebrows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Edie shrugged.

"Does he write you?"

"Yes," she said, a little too intently. She tried to relax. "Just while he's on the field, when they're not doing anything. When there's nothing better to do, I mean."

"Well, speaking as someone in the military, there's never nothing to do. You have to carve time out with your bare hands, and more often than not, you break a fingernail." He stared at the moon. "I should write more. I get so caught up sometimes, in training and other people not caring about home, or not having one, that I forget I really do like mine. I forget that mom and dad are thinking about me all the time, and all that you helped me with, and all the time we spent together. Hell, you're my sister. These guys are just…well, they're just guys. Unless they join the Scouts, they won't be anything more."

"I would enjoy more letters. Mom and dad would, too."

"Alright, then. What else is new?"

"I already told you about Mr. Solway's new bride, his house—oh, mom and dad started a turnip patch. That was a big day. We've got way more pressure from the state to produce about double and no land to do it on, but dad thinks they'll simmer down when they realize no farm is producing that much. Also, we're only one of twelve family-operated farms in Wall Rose. Most others have given up ownership under the pressure and are just farmhands now."

"That's insane."

"I know. Whatever the king's doing, it's not going to solve the hunger crisis."

"For sure. We get enough here. Good thing, too, or Bush would go crazier than he is."

"I met him while he was stuffed in a window."

Jamie laughed and kicked a pine cone from its ledge, sending it clattering down below. "They're a different breed, I'll tell ya. They're passionate, but…they've got a wildness about them."

"And you don't?"

"I feel like I'm on a different…I don't know, star, sometimes. You know? Like, they're talking and playing and jabbing at each other, and…I miss home, all of a sudden."

"You know what would help?"

"Yeah?"

"Writing a letter and getting one in return, once in a damn while."

"I apologized—"

"Not enough. Wait till you're my age and you see the silly scribblings you've put out." She pushed back her hair with a coy grin. "I didn't come here to chastise you, though. I didn't know I was coming here at all."

"I'm glad you did."

"Me, too."

"Two people died in a training exercise," he said suddenly, then coughed. "Four days ago."

Edie's lips parted, and she was silent for a moment or two. "Jamie, I…I'm sorry."

"They were from Barracks 6, in their third year. One of the teachers left yesterday with a full report, for their families." Jamie looked at the ground, searching for his lost pinecone. "It feels awful to say it, but…it was their fault. They were messing around with ODM gear high up, and one of them shot the other in the head. That guy fell when the first did and hit his head on a trunk. And they were just hanging there."

"Were you there?"

Jamie nodded. "Commander Shadis took me out, 'cause Commander Erwin showed me how to use it in Sina. I don't know about some of these guys, Edie. We're supposed to be thinking about Wall Maria, but some of them…I don't think they care about anything. Well. I didn't tell anybody in Barracks 3 about it. They'd just say they were idiots, which they were, but…I don't think they should be dead because they were idiots."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." He huffed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Don't be silly. What else am I here for?"

"To have a nice visit."

"If I wanted a nice visit, I would've gone to see Miss Sari Haevyn," Edie said with a toss of her hair, and Jamie laughed. She climbed over to his branch and hugged him tight, until all his breath was gone. "You're going to be okay."

"And people die all the time."

"Yes. They do."

A door opened, and loud voices echoed from the first row. Jamie sighed. "That seems to be all the time your benevolent captain has for us. Commander Shadis isn't one for small talk."

"It would seem not."

"I'll write more. More than your captain."

"That's hardly possible." Edie bit her lip for divulging that information. "Love you. To the moon and back."

"You, too."

"And I won't tell any of your funny comrades downstairs."

"Your call. I'm gonna tell everybody."

They climbed to the roof, hugged once more, and parted ways. Jamie hopped to the roof, and Edie used the cover of darkness to sneak behind the longhouses, then crossed to the hatched tree. The captain and the commander still stood on a porch, far from her and the horse, so she took time to catch her breath, go back to undoing knots, and glance back at the longhouses. Given the corps' attention to gossip, she imagined their chatter the next morning as Barracks 3 swore up and down that Jamie's sister had indeed come (neither here or there how), hadn't denied killing a titan, and disappeared under the cover of night. She thought about how Erwin would hear and laughed to herself about the look on his face, especially if he thought long and hard about the incident's date.

Intent on her work, she didn't notice the quiet captain's approach, only his tired exhale a few feet from the tree. With the northern wind's energy and awake eyes, she decided he was terribly sore from the journey. He hid it well, with good posture, a monotone expression, and smooth movements, but the way he held his hands was different from usual. His hands hung from his waist instead of hiding under his cloak, at the ready, with swords he wasn't wearing.

"Sorry for the long meeting," he began. Even his voice, though sounding forceful and slick, lacked that energy she knew. "Shadis and I had a lot to discuss."

Edie didn't want the excuse. She dropped her knotwork and went to him. Careful to be gentle, she slipped her hands under and around his back and kissed him, softly and full. Her feet planted in between his. He leaned in, grasping her hair with one hand and cradling her cheek with the other. The stars might've been singing, Barracks 3 exclaiming with disbelief, or Commander Shadis yelling from his bed, but she wouldn't have noticed. Until his horse stamped and cut into the moment, not even the crickets could be heard.

Edie managed a smile, but the captain kept to his deadpan expression. She put her hands on his cheeks and stared into his vacant eyes. "You're not here, are you?"

"No."

"Thank you." She kissed his hands. "Are you open to suggestion?"

"From you? Always."

Edie flushed but got back her senses. "Let me ride back. No one's out right now to report that the captain's girlfriend had to ride him home."

"I wouldn't mind."

"Well, I would, and so would Hange. She's got quite a narrative wrapped up with you as a gentleman."

"I'm no gentleman."

"And I'm no lady, yet here we are."

He touched his finger to her chin and tilted it up. She allowed a few short kisses before taking his hands and leading the careless captain to his horse. They mounted, turned, and were away.