Chapter 53

Kalys surveyed the destruction before him now that the light of day was bright enough. A large section of Dyreffjor was in flames from the rioting. Even more of it was near rubble from explosions and fires that had since burnt out or been put out. He and his people had arrived last night, and it had been eventful. He'd had little time to take stock of the situation before they'd been thrown into combat. 

The rebels had been well-armed and more organised than he would have expected. In greater numbers too. It had been his understanding that the citizens of Dyreffjor and some of the nearby towns were rising up against the monarchy. It had been unclear as to why. Rumours abounded, from the wealth gap to the lords of the area not fulfilling their duties to the people, to the Revenants in the area committing crimes against the citizens to the increase in taxes. The reasons were many and unverified. And it had struck without warning. The Revenants in charge of this area from the Eighth had not reported any growing unrest until just days before the first riot broke out in the city's peripheries. 

That first one had been small, quelled by the Revenants and the town's own law enforcement. Most of them had been arrested, but they hadn't cited any reason for the riot beyond joining in on what had already started. No surprises; those rounded up had been inebriated. 

From there, this uprising had grown until it swallowed the city, involving more and more of its people. They did not know who the leaders were, but given their level of organisation, someone was leading them. 

The Revenants had made their base of operations in the city hall and its surrounding buildings. While he hadn't brought his entire division, he'd brought enough support to have a verifiable army at his command. Commander Tannivh hadn't come himself but had loaned him a large portion of his casters, and he'd brought many healers from the Sixth. Not only to tend to his own, but for the people caught in the crossfire. 

The evaluation mission that some of Suns classmates had come up here on had been a mistake in Kalys's opinion. Their presence – while not prepared to commit to a full-scale assault against those at fault – had only inflamed the situation and given the rebels a sense of confidence. They hadn't realised they were dealing with candidates rather than well-trained Revenants. Though Dyne had been in charge of them, he'd sent them up with his lieutenant and left him to supervise and evaluate. Another mistake. Dyne was only interested in the North as long as he got to raze it to the ground, so he hadn't bothered with the students up here.

Kalys had always wondered why the man was promoted to Commander. 

"Sir?"

Kalys glanced to his side where Reeves had appeared. 

"We've secured a perimeter, and I've set up rotations for the guards. We also have a watch up in that clock tower."

Kalys nodded. It was the highest vantage point in the city and quite central to where they'd set up base. Dyreffjor was a flat city; this whole area was, and many of the country's crops were grown there. While the country's food supply hadn't suffered too much since this started, it was only a matter of time if it continued.

"The healers are setting up an infirmary in the east wing of the town hall. We have a few injuries from last night, but all are minor. We captured some of the rebels; their injuries are much worse, and they're still unconscious."

He would interrogate them when they woke. 

"I'm going to take a small contingent of people and go put out those fires," Kalys told him. 

It would be easier with his ability.

"Be ready for any survivors I send back."

"Yes, Sir."

Before he could do just that, however, his eyes caught sight of something in the sky. He immediately recognised it as a raven and waited for it to reach him. He assumed it was from the manor, and as it got closer, he held his arm out for it to land. As he'd expected, there was a message secured to its leg. The wax seal was the Illusen crest, but not his own customary turquoise or his grandfather's silver. It was the shimmering blue he'd supplied for Sun.

Surely nothing could have gone terribly wrong in his absence already. 

He took the message, using his other hand to break the seal and unroll it, relaxing just a little. It was merely Sun informing him of their grandfather's safe arrival, how her first day went, and to remind him to return safely. He found the gesture quite sweet. He'd never received personal correspondence like this while on a mission before, not even from his grandfather. 

Unfortunately, he would have to respond at a later time; there was too much to do right now.

"I'll see to the bird, then I'll deal with those fires," he amended.

He took the bird to his makeshift quarters to get him fed and watered. He'd flown quite a distance. 

He set the raven up with everything he would need and told him to wait. He was pleased to see Sun using them and assumed that must also mean she was taking care of them. It was the one place the staff were not to go; the aviary was his to care for. And now, in his absence, Suns.

With the bird seen to, he returned to work. 

The sooner he sorted this mess out, the sooner he could return home.

-

Sun eyed the canvas in front of her, looking back out across the garden, then back to the canvas. It was probably safe to say painting was not one of her talents. She looked over at her grandfather's easel to find the work of art he'd managed. 

"Wow," Sun breathed out. "That's really pretty."

Jinn turned to her with a smile, his eyes falling on her own work. "You've gone for something a little more abstract, I see."

"...Yes."

His smile turned almost smirk-like for a moment before he continued with his own painting.

"The point isn't to be good at it, just to enjoy it," he said.

Not a philosophy she would have expected from an Illusen. Everything they did seemed rooted in attaining perfection. Or did they just come by it naturally?

"It is relaxing," she agreed. 

The whole idea of having something she didn't have to be good at was nice. Everything she'd had to learn at the academy, at the manor – it was all because she had to do well at it. She understood the why of it, but that didn't help her enjoy it. She had to be good in a fight because her life or that of others could be depending on it one day. Her conduct, manners, and bearing had to be perfect so as not to shame her brother or the rest of her family. Or the Revenants, now that she was one of them. 

She had finished her first week as a Revenant, and some days were draining. A couple of times she had read some unsettling reports she'd had to bring to the Commanders attention; what became of the situation after that she didn't know yet. There were some perks, though – Revenant Lorcan Culling was something of a comedian. She looked forward to his reports; sometimes he sent multiple reports a day purely to make whoever was on the other end laugh. Cage had told her they were making a little book out of his reports; it would get passed around from time to time for shits and giggles. His reports had to be copied, and while one was filed away, the other joined the book. Sun had yet to read it, but it was one book she was keen to get her hands on. 

A loud crack had her flinching – more at the volume than any kind of fright. Nick had mastered teleporting right to her now, able to get a perfect read on her aura at great distances. He no longer accidentally ended up a room over or on the other side of the manor. And with Kalys gone, he'd been coming over a lot more often. 

He smiled wide when he saw Sun, though it fell a bit when he noticed Jinn, bowing politely to the older man.

"Good morning, Nikolai," Jinn greeted. 

"Good morning, Lord Illusen. I just came to steal Sun away, if that's all right."

"If she's amenable."

Sun nodded, standing up. "I'll just put this stuff away."

"Leave it, my dear; I'll take care of it," Jinn told her.

"Are you sure? I don't—

"I'm sure," he interrupted. "Go, have fun."

Nick didn't need to be told again, grabbing her wrist and porting her out. She looked around, her brow furrowing as she realised they were in Perdition. They had spent all week here. Why were they here on their day off? They were planning to come here later anyway to see Zen.

She cast him a questioning look. 

"They're letting him out today," he told her. "Right now, actually."

"I thought they were keeping him another day or two."

"Guess they got sick of him."

They ran into the infirmary, skidding to a halt as they rounded the first corner. There was a flurry of activity, injured men and women on stretchers being carted off to different rooms. 

"What is going on?" Sun whispered. 

"Sun?"

They both turned to find Commanders Mercer and Tannivh entering behind them.

"Are you hurt?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "We came to pick up Zen, but..."

She indicated the frenzied mess before them. 

"The more grievous injuries from the Northern insurrection," Commander Tannivh explained. "Those that can no longer fight."

Suns brows furrowed at that. She and Kalys had written each other a few times this past week, and while he'd mentioned a few skirmishes, he'd made it sound like it was nothing too dangerous. Though for the most part, he didn't touch on the situation up there. He'd certainly mentioned nothing of sending a load of badly wounded back. 

"Kalys isn't among them, is he?" She asked.

"No, Sun. As next of kin, you would have been notified yesterday if that were the case."

"I'm Zen's next of kin as well, but I wasn't notified about him until much later," she pointed out.

"That situation was a bit different."

"Because he's not nobility?"

"No, because it was an evaluation mission, and there had been deaths. It was important to break the news to the decedent's family before rumours could spread."

That mildly assuaged her.

"Have there been any casualties?" Nick asked. 

"A few," Mercer replied. "Hence our presence here today."

Which meant the dead were from their divisions. Sun hadn't met the Revenants from the Eighth who'd been stationed up there or read their reports. She didn't even know who they were. Losing someone under your command couldn't have been easy, and both men before her looked to be wearing that weight.

"I'm sorry. We'll get out of your way," Nick said, pulling Sun back so they could pass by. 

"I'll see you back at work, Sun," Mercer offered a weak smile as he patted her head, an affectionate gesture he'd taken to making now and again. 

Nick and Sun slipped off down the hall, doing their best not to get in anyone's way and breathing a sigh of relief when they made it to Zen's room. He was standing up, pulling on his shirt.

"Ah, my family, finally come to pick me up," he greeted.

"You're welcome," she replied, plopping herself onto the bed. 

"It's a bit of a madhouse outside," Nick told him. "I'll just port us out of here."

He'd been told not to use his ability inside the infirmary, mostly because of the noise, and they didn't want him popping in and out outside of visiting hours. He'd adhered to it, but now would probably be a good time to break it. 

Sun gathered up what few belongings Zen had here – mostly stuff to keep him entertained – and shoved them into his pack. Zen pulled on his shoes, and then Nick took their hands. 

With a thunderous crack, they were gone.