Chapter 24

"I trust you slept well?" Kalys asked her at breakfast.

"Yes, and you?" She asked pleasantly.

The question still managed to surprise him; it was rare they exchanged niceties so casually. He had noticed she was far more accustomed to this place and his presence than those first couple of tumultuous weeks. And perhaps all his progress hadn't been undone with his display against the boys from the Academy. Or maybe she was just distracted about her upcoming mission.

He nodded and continued with his breakfast. 

Sun didn't eat much; she was a mess of nerves about her mission. Would she do well? Would it be hard? Would she get along with the people she was supposed to be teaming up with? Realising she wasn't going to be able to get much down she stood up. 

"I'm going to head to Perdition now; have a good day," she called to him on her way out. 

He couldn't quite stop the corners of his lips from quirking upwards, just a little. It was the first time she felt comfortable enough to excuse herself. Usually she waited silently until he was done as well and had risen to leave himself. While he expected it of others, he found he had no qualms about her being an exception to his usual rules. 

It gave him hope they could reach an amicable sibling relationship. Maybe they could even be close one day. Close enough he would see her only as a sibling. The unhealthy attraction he had to her still had him a little confused and reeling. And more than a little disgusted with himself. 

He hoped time would alleviate it. 

He ignored the small voice that pointed out how his attraction only grew with every interaction he had with her. Even the not-so-pleasant ones...

-

Sun walked to Perdition since she had plenty of time to spare having bailed on breakfast early. She had a small pack slung over her shoulder carrying her weapon cleaning supplies, a change of uniform, a spare set of clothes, and a few changes of underwear and a couple of toiletries.

When she entered the conference room, there were two men, Cullen and Seph, seated at the round table. Her stomach sank. Her teammates were Cullen and Seph? This wasn't shaping up to be promising. Given their history, what idiot thought this was a good idea? Kalys must not have known about this.

The other two men were dressed in the Revenant uniform, one with the symbol of a Commander pinned to the right breast of his Revenant jacket and the other with the lieutenant symbol tied to a band around his arm. Only the Commanders were allowed to wear their badge wherever they chose. Her brother wore his on his belt, keeping his black Revenant coat closed. 

The Commander looked to be in his late forties, early fifties maybe; his golden hair was shoulder length, and he had a thin layer of stubble along his jaw. He had clear, light blue eyes that seemed to emanate warmth. A single silver ring adorned his ear. 

She remembered him from the Solstice. Commander Mercer. He had been very friendly with her brother, though Kalys hadn't appeared to reciprocate.

He gave her a kind smile when he noticed her and indicated she should take a seat. 

"I'm sorry I'm late," she said. She thought she was early, yet everyone else was here. Hopefully they couldn't hear her internal panic.

"Don't worry, you're not late at all," he said. He had a really nice voice. "We're still waiting for one of my officers to deliver the files. I'm Commander Tarrant Mercer, and this is my lieutenant, Cage." He looked at the group of candidates. "I assume you know each other."

They all nodded without even looking at each other. 

"Well," he said, leaning back into his chair. "You three, among a few others, are doing very well in both your combat and academic areas and, as a result, are being considered for graduation next batch."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door to which Commander Mercer bade entry. He looked up at the young man with a smile as he handed him a couple of folders. Mercer slid one to each of them as the officer left.

"This is the mission," he said. "Villages and towns out in the borderlands are missing all of their inhabitants. I'm sure you've heard. Individual Revenants have been sent out, but we have lost all contact with them. We assume the same thing has happened to them as has happened to the townspeople but can't be sure. Our objective is to find the missing Revenants first and foremost. If we happen to figure out where the townspeople went, great. This is being investigated by another Division as well, but we'll be acting independently of them. We're just looking for our people. This could be a dangerous mission, as we have no idea what we're dealing with, so if any of you want to pull out and get reassigned, now is your chance."

He gave them a few moments to think it over. None of them moved, fully intending to take this mission on. It would just look bad to bail on a mission because it might be dangerous. Besides, they were with a Commander, the strongest Revenants in Perdition, the strongest people in the country. It did seem a little strange to her that they would be sent out on a mission like this when there was already another Division looking into it, though. It was highly likely they were connected, like Commander Mercer said. 

Maybe they just needed something to send them out on? They were having a shortage of candidate-friendly assignments?

When it was clear they weren't going to back out, Mercer smiled.

"Great. If you have any questions, I'll answer them on the train. Let's go."

-

Sun looked around the luxury car. As Revenants they were given a private car on the train. It was very comfortable and spacious. Cullen and Seph went straight to the sofa and flopped down on it, producing a deck of cards and beginning a game. Sun headed over to the book racks.

The two Revenants watched them.

"I heard from the headmaster these three don't get along," said Mercer.

"I heard she doesn't get along with anyone," said Cage. "I thought she would be a total dog judging by all the things people have been saying about her. But she's quite pretty."

Mercer gave him a disapproving stare.

"What?" Cage asked innocently.

His Commander could only sigh. Cage was a bit of a ladies man; he had been through most of the women in their division and it had caused no end of problems. The last thing he needed was him trying to bed the little sister of a fellow Commander, and the head of the Winter Clan no less.

"The reason they're so antagonistic towards her is because she is an illegitimate child as well as from the slums," he said, looking over her file. "Pairing her off with someone other than the two boys she is supposedly friends with was supposed to help her rely on others and form bonds with them, to learn to be a part of a team. And to see if all three of them can set aside their differences for the mission."

They stared over at the three candidates, the two boys pretending the girl didn't exist and the girl seeming relieved by it.

"There's nothing like a near-death experience to facilitate bonding," Cage chuckled.

"Yes," Mercer agreed. "However, for their first mission, I would rather they didn't almost die. I am hoping this will be a simple search and, if we're very lucky, rescue."

"But rescue from what?"

"They all just fell down a well and need a hand up," he replied drily.

Cage laughed again. "Ever the optimist, Commander."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of optimism, Lieutenant."

"So," he said, turning serious. "What are their abilities?"

"I gave you their files to read, Cage."

"Fine, fine, I'll just ask them myself."

Mercer rolled his eyes as he watched his lieutenant approach Sun. The man was a fantastic second when he wanted to be. Unfortunately, he didn't choose to as often as Mercer would like.

"Anything interesting?"

Sun looked up at the lieutenant as he bent down to her level to get a look at the titles she was browsing.

"Not particularly," she said. 

"Yeah, didn't think so; everything here is what people have left on the main train, so most of it's crap. Come talk to me instead," he said, pulling her up and dragging her over to the table.

"So, Sun," he said, taking a seat. "What do you specialise in?"

"Wasn't that in my file?"

He just waved a dismissive hand. "I didn't read it. To be honest, I'm not a fan of paper anything."

She gave him an amused smile. She thought a lieutenant would have to be more professional than that. Her brother's Lieutenant certainly was.

"All right, well, for range I use pistols; originally I wanted to use a shotgun, but I couldn't handle the kick."

"I'm not surprised," he said, looking her over; she was a tiny one.

"For melee," she continued, mildly annoyed at him now. She may be small, but she was skilled. "A pair of dirks."

"How are you at dual-wielding blades?" He asked.

"Decent," she replied. 

"I'm a dual wielder," he said. "We should train together sometime."

"Really!?" Between training with her brother and a Revenant Lieutenant, surely she would improve in leaps and bounds. 

"Sure, why not? I'm pretty good; you could learn a lot from me."

She burst out laughing; he reminded her so much of Zen. "Now now, don't be so humble."

"I'm guessing for abilities it's all ice and water, like your brother?"

She nodded a little hesitantly. Kalys had said not to rely on the other stuff, not to use it in front of people. And she did agree it was for the best. 

After that they fell into an easy conversation, mostly about Revenant training, different techniques, and weapons. She hadn't found it this easy to talk to any of the other students at the Academy, but then, none of them had been interested in talking to her either. 

Eventually he did excuse himself; he needed to talk to the other two as well; he liked to know a bit about the people he was on missions with. That was fair enough. 

Unfortunately, she knew enough about the other two boys. Though it did feel like there was a shift in the dynamic after what Kalys had done. 

Whether it was for better or worse remained to be seen.