The day is colder than their last, a reminder that they ought to start their journey home, sooner rather than later. Home, could they really call it that now?

Lunetta, General Usel, Trinsi and Cheron sit a the diner’s table eating breakfast. Cheron finishes first, and Lunetta sees this as an opportunity to ask him a favor.

“Cheron, would you fetch Seis. She said she would be packing up caravans out by the armory.”

“I can go,” Trinsi offers. She wasn’t eating anyway, she had some coffee in lieu of the meal, and sat in their company for a majority of the morning. She figures she should do something of use.

“You can both go,” General Usel says suddenly, “I have something I wish to discuss with Daf Lunetta before I bring it up to the rest of you.”

Lunetta gives him a look that reads ‘is that so?’She half expects her First Knight to protest, but to her surprise she doesn’t. Trinsi had become increasingly easier to handle as of late. Lunetta is both proud and saddened by the thought, in the way that this trip had changed everyone. “Very well, the both of you.”

Outside Cheron and Trinsi walk in silence. While the morning has not been long, there are quite a number of people walking around. Trinsi is thinking about General Usel’s comment and wonders what on earth he has to discuss in private with Lunetta. They rarely kept anything from her.

Cheron interrupts her train of thought, “I’m sorry if you didn’t want me to tag along, I can go do something else if you and Seis need to talk.”

“Oh? No, I volunteered because I wanted to make myself useful.”

“Okay.”

After a few minutes he speaks up again, “Can I ask you something then?”

“Depends on what you’re asking.”

“You do like Seis right?” He’s only gotten half the question out, when he reconsiders perhaps not asking it. Knowing that he couldn’t take it back at that point, he braces himself for her response. Whatever it is, even if it’s violent, he can’t say that he didn’t ask for it.

“Ah, you noticed?” Trinsi is embarrassed, but since she’s accepted that nothing will come of her one sided feelings, it doesn’t bother her. Not as much as it would have a couple of months ago anyway. While the candid admission was unforeseen, Cheron is relieved.

“It’s not obvious or anything, it was a shot in the dark to be honest. I’ve known Seis for a while, I can read her better than others,” he explains. “I think you are a good person so I hope it works out. It’s nice to see something good in what seems to be a journey of perpetual misery.”

This comment makes Trinsi stop, “You’re mistaken Cheron, it’s not mutual on her part.”

Cheron’s eyes get wide, “Oh no Trin… don’t tell me that you really think that.”

“She’s told me so herself.”

“She’s milkin’ the cow tit!” The striker appears to be more distraught than Trinsi. He shakes his head and continues with his argument, “She’s an idiot. Considering what happened the last time she faced the Storms, I suppose I understand. If anything though, that should make her see that life is short-” He rolls his eyes, “I don’t understand that woman.”

“Cheron, I know I’m not the most pleasant person to be around, you don’t have to say these things to make me feel better.” Trinsi starts walking again.

Cheron frowns and follows at her side. “Trinsi I was afraid of you when I first met you, and yes you are always cranky, but you’re usually the voice of reason. Seis respects you a lot.”

“I thank you. But really, it’s alright,” Trinsi says dropping the subject.

---

“We’ve talked it over, and General Usel believes that you are ready to be promoted to General. He’s believed this for a long time now, and while I always agreed with him, now the time has come for me to face the fact that we might need this promotion. If you have no objections, I will honor his wishes immediately.”

For years, Trinsi has waited for this day. However, things being what they were, with her medical condition, she had accepted that it would never be possible. Even now, sitting across from her two friends, she is having a hard time believing it.

Lunetta and General Usel watch her waitingly from across the wooden table. Seis is silent at her side. The rest of the room resumes their morning routine without notice.

“Can I sleep on it?”

Trinsi did not expect those words to come out of her mouth. Was this not everything she had worked so hard for? And now that she could without having to worry about her condition… why the hesitation?

“Of course my dear Trinsi.” Lunetta smiles encouragingly. “Take as long as you need.”

---

“Are you going to be good to go in the morning?” Seis takes a seat next to Trinsi at the bar.

“I’m not drunk.” Trinsi knows her limit, although she is slightly buzzed. She raises her hand to summon the bartender, “Can I get a coffee?”

The bartender looks at Seis expectantly.

“Oh,” she rattles her head for the name of any prepared drink. It has been two centuries since she last had stepped in a bar. Cheron went to a tavern a lot, but she never listened to his ramblings. She glances at Trinsi, “What did you have?”

“A rose ale, and a blue dart.”

Having never heard of a ‘blue dart’, Seis orders the ale.

“How’s Lunetta holding up?” she asks once the server walks away.

“Good, all things considering. Knowing that General Usel is mostly there has lifted everyone’s spirits. Everything else remains depressing.”

“I heard she sent word ahead to the Syardom and the surrounding cities about the evacuation.”

The bartender returns with their drinks.

Trinsi thanks the man and nods, “She sent a party, we hope our allies will take it seriously, we can’t afford to waste time.”

Seis nods as well and takes a sip of her drink. She hates it, but continues to drink it.

“This morning when General Usel suggested making you a general- does Daf Lunetta know about...?”

Trinsi had never relayed the events of the night Seis’s departure to her sovereign. Not that she didn’t wish for Lunetta to know, no, Trinsi had been too distracted by everything else that she had forgotten to tell her about the Wish of Mother Earth.

“Oh, I meant to tell her, I should soon,” she figures.

“Do you want the position? If you don’t, you don’t have to accept it.”

“I don’t know. I thought I did. I don’t know what to think now.”

“That’s fair.”

They sit in the ambient noise of the bar for a moment. While it is late, the place is lively. Not too loud for them to be unable to have a conversation.

“Would the title even mean anything?” Trinsi speaks up again after some consideration. “If we give up our kingdom, are we not giving up who we are? What’s the point in the title?”

“Trinsi, you are not defined by a title or a nation. The Syardom are the people, not the land they live on. The fact that we are essentially starting from scratch is not a defeat, it’s an opportunity to shape your future. I’m sure you didn’t agree with a lot of the things the Syars did, and this is the time to create a role that you agree with, something that you can be proud of.”

While Trinsi’s last couple of weeks have consisted of avoiding falling into the darkness that is Seis’s gaze, she finds herself watching her as she speaks.

“Cheron was right.”

“Right about what?”

“You like me… you’re going to deny it, and that’s fine, but you like me.”

Seis frowns, then exhales deeply through her nose, “I never said I didn’t. I said I would tell you that I didn’t, if that was what you needed to hear.”

“You’re a real jerk you know that right?”

“Look Trinsi, I can’t-”

Trinsi stomach drops when she notices that Seis is tearing up, that was not the reaction she was hoping for or expected from the woman. She’s emphatic and regrets bringing the subject up.

Seis manages to compose herself, “I lost everything once already. I can’t do it again.”

This had never occured to Trinsi, despite it being indubitably obvious, Seis is afraid. They all were, but she hadn’t shown it so far. Her heart breaks for her. Two centuries ago, Seis had a life, one that was very different from the one she has now. She had love, love for her family, love for her comrades, and perhaps even a romantic love. Watching Lunetta lose her entire family had been hard enough, and while Trinsi herself could never conceive the emotions her friend had gone through, Seis had lived through the same nightmare.

“Would it be easier for you if I stopped then?” Trinsi asks dejectedly, not looking forward to her answer. In reality she doesn’t know what she means by this, perhaps she is drunk. It is not as if she can stop having feelings for Seis, she had tried that path already. “I’ll stop. I’ll stop being over dramatic, and leaning on you when I should be pulling my own weight.”

“No, what you need to do is stop talking about yourself that way.” Seis is irate, “You have worth. I hate hearing you say otherwise.”

Now it’s Seis’s turn to watch Trinsi blink away tears.

Shoot, Seis bites her lip, one of the two had to be drunk, but now she isn’t sure who.

She reaches for Trinsi, pulling her chin closer until she can smell the sweet scent of coffee in her breath. Trinsi slows her breathing, as if she fears it giving her despair away.

Seis is wrong, they’re both sober. That’s the problem. She wants to write this off as a drunken mishap so badly, that she is trying to convince herself that neither are aware of their actions right now.

She’s made it this far, and while she could technically still change her mind, she doesn’t want to. She lets her lips fall on Trinsi’s. The gesture is soft, different from the hasty, rushed kiss Trinsi had given her some time ago.

Trinsi awakens from her confused daze. She is unclear on what is happening, but she is not hating it. She shifts her weight forward, turning her head slightly and sinking deeper into the kiss. She can already feel Seis leaning away, but Trinsi cups her face pulling her back in. She doesn’t fight it, melting back into Trinsi.

Trinsi hates the idea of it all. They’re in a bar, no one’s paying them much attention but they are not alone. In her mind, Trinsi is undeserving, Seis probably feels bad for making her cry and is reciprocating her feelings out of pity. Most of all, she hates that she’s enjoying it. She doesn’t want to put a stop to it, but she has to.

With a gentle tug, she pushes Seis off her, “I don’t want to guilt you into anything.”

Seis’s mind is swirling, she begins to protest, but Trinsi is standing and striding away.