He was taken by carriage to a building inside inner part of the town. It was an area separated from the town proper by another wall, and this one had much more men manning it. He could see that here they patrolled in pairs and at the gates almost every visible opening had a face that stared back at you. They were stopped and searched, and only then allowed entry into what was the centre for the Army in this area.

As they walked into the imposing building, a small fortress really, soldiers saluted the man that brought him, and they made their way down into the bowels of the underground floors. Three flights of stairs down and they finally made their way to a door in front of which the man that brought him here made small adjustments to his uniform, reminded him to behave and politely knocked at the solid metal door. The sound made it's way around the hall, echoing off the walls as a female voice from the other side of the door invited them in.

Contrary to the hallways that were empty of any kind of furniture, with only a few decorations along the walls, inside the office of the Commander he got the sense of some Colonial home, with large wooden furniture placed around the edges of the room. In the center a large circular carpet covered almost half of the floor and on the middle of it, a solid table filled with papers, behind which the presumed Commander sat.

She didn't raise her curly raven-haired head from her writing when they made their way in, and the man made no sound, just stood still and waited. So he followed suite. The one thing that captured his attention was a large bookcase right behind the woman, it was filled with books that had some of the best covers he had seen on this world. I know that it's wrong to judge a book by it's cover, but when it looks so good...

The woman used the same pen his grandfather used. A needle taken from the back of some critter, it left a neat line in it's wake, a personal favourite of his considering the alternatives he found so far.

"You are Tercius, son of Septimus and Petra, correct? " the woman asked in a bored tone, not bothering to lift her head, nor stop her writing, her voice had a sandy sound he quite liked instantly.

"Yes." he decided that fast and efficient was the way to go with this one.

"You saw what happened today at the..." she went on to interrogate him of the events of the day and he shared everything he remembered with her. The attack, the return to the city, his missing memory, his return. Everything. The woman was thorough. She asked some questions multiple times, she would just spin some part in another way.

"I think I get the whole picture." she declared finally after an hour of getting what she wanted out of him. "As for what happened to you, with your memory, it is something that sometimes happens when people see things they were not prepared for. Like the first time you kill someone or see someone get killed. A shock. It messes with your mind a bit, but it is nothing to worry about. All soldiers go through it. Right Balon?" she snapped at the man.

"That's right, Commander!" he snapped back.

"Now about the other thing, from what I could gather from my soldiers on the scene, you managed to outrun a company of professional soldiers and no one came close to catching up to you. A skill of some kind?" she asked her brown eyes leaving the paper for the first time and settling on his. The woman's face had freckles of the same colour as her eyes.

"Do I have to give you an answer?" he asked and felt the man behind him getting tense, what metal armour he had on started squeaking as his muscles started warming up It seems that the beautiful Commander has a fan, and he doesn't like her word questioned.

"No, you do not. But I spoke to your father and he informed me of your skills with sword and shield. But he didn't mention any skill for increased speed. I found that curious. Did you not tell them about it?" she asked clearly intrigued.

"...No." he said, with not a little guilt behind the word. He never liked keeping secrets, the problem was that his personality was too good at keeping them. He believed in privacy of the highest order, where only the ones involved had the right to share, all else had to keep mum, even when their entire being screamed otherwise. His eyes and ears witnessed personally what meddling of outsiders brought.

Once something in his mind was labelled a secret it stayed that way even in the case it became known. It was one of his traits that made a great deal of problems over the years with other people, especially friends and family. There were times when they learned that he had information about something and didn’t share in time. Even after they found out he never confirmed nor denied it. Of course there were exceptions but those were rare.

Even now he was struggling if he should tell or just keep quiet. His tongue was tied with indecision. It is my secret to share, so maybe...

"I will need to first answer to my family." he said finally as he came to a decision. "And ask them what they think. If they think I should share, then..."

"Oh by all means. Then our business here if finished. Balon! Escort him home, this is no time for a small child to walk alone." she ordered.

"Yes ma’am!" Balon saluted and moved behind him.

"One more thing before you go. Even if you do decide to... keep this to yourself, consider finding Balon there to bring you back here. I am in need of an aide, and from your parents I learned that you can read, write, studied your grandfather and grandmothers skills and from the looks of it are quite a little warrior in the making. You will probably not understand it now, but try to remember it, and maybe some day it will be more clear. When you are talented in multiple fields, and that may seem like a blessing, and it truly is, but only if you find something that gives you a purpose, a goal to go after. Otherwise it becomes a curse. If you choose none, all those choices you have become a chain that only drags you down. The Army provided me a way forward, so now I extend it to you. Work as my aide and you will get military training and eventually a rank and so on. You see, the life we in the army lead, well most of us," she chucked flashing a set of perfect teeth, "allows us to find what truly matters to us in less time. That is precious, you will agree. Our way of life cuts away that what is weighing us down and builds our strength so that we may carry our burdens a little bit easier. Think about this, that is all I ask." she took a deep breath, her piece said, and went back to her paperwork.

Tercius stood there, his mind blank, as her voice went over and over in his head.

***

Moments after Tercius and Balon left

The Commander made her way over to the table in the corner and took a bottle of liquor off the tray and poured two small cups. As she poured she heard a sound that was quite familiar to her. The bookcase behind her back was in fact a concealed door, that lead to a series of tunnels that allowed easy and private passage to all parts of the city.

This time it was used as a way to listen in on the conversation that occurred a few minutes prior.

"That went well, I think." said the man that made his way in.

"I have seen that look he had. I had seen it once upon a time in the mirror, staring back at me. Those words saved me. Of course they would work." she answered curtly offering a metal cup with one hand. He took it from her, but made no motion of drinking it.

"I am curious as to why you wanted for me to extend this invitation to that boy. Sure he has a lot of potential, yet there are others equal if not more suited for this with their connections. The boy is the son of two traders for Emperor’s sake." she prodded this mysterious superior that appeared one day at her doorstep. It had been over four years since she took over the military command in the area and still she knew about him as much as she knew on the first day that he came and introduced himself. Nothing.

"If you have a problem with our arrangement, say so. I can leave and look for someone else." he said in a calm voice that could belong to anyone from their twenties to their sixties. His cape covered his face, leaving only the tip of the nose and down visible. The beard covered almost everything and the worst part is that somehow she could not see it’s colour. All that was visible was grey, the nose, the mouth and the beard. A damn fine enchantment.

"No, I was just curious. Will I need to do anything?" she hinted. The arrangement they had was that he would provide her special training in exchange for her doing certain things. So far she only had a few requests from him, while her strength soared. It honestly scared her sometimes of what he might ask in return. Deals with Devils rarely if ever went good for anyone else than the Devils.

"No, you will provide the boy all that was agreed upon and nothing else. Do your part and a promotion may be coming your way. After all the Army can never have enough capable Commanders." the damned man hinted with a smile at something he knew she would never refuse.

"It will be done."

***

Tercius and Balon came to his house around one hour after midnight, and inside he could see light from candles in the living room. A few silhouettes moved on the inner walls, he looked away and focused on the first thing his eyes captured. Although their new land was small compared to the area they purchased previously by over twenty times, it still cost almost 1000 tretas. The house was made with their own hands once again, only this time Tercius had his small paws in on the planning.

The plot was a perfect square near the river, which at first made him excited, until it was pointed out to him that bathing in the river was strictly forbidden. You had to go downriver on the other side of the town and swim there, anyone caught not doing that had to pay a fine and gets a lash over the back. It was quite effective, because in five years since they moved here he never saw anyone do it. Who wants to get a military lash? It easier to walk a bit. Except today that rule took a life. But it saved who knows how many.

Anyway, since the base shape of the land was a square, he insisted it to be the base of the house also. Around the property a wall was built that came to 1.5 meters, because that was the highest a wall of any kind was allowed to be built in a town. Other than the army, they had privileges of going higher with their walls.

All around the inner edge of the walls he and his grandmother planted bushes that had large thorns on their branches, and they let those grow up to 2 meters until the started to trim them on that size. He checked first with the rules and regulations first, of course. The bushes themselves were slow growing, but with his and grandmothers skill they managed to do in three years what would have taken the plant a decade. It’s branches were firm and tough to cut thru, and would only get more that way the older they got.

When you enter from the gate on the right stood grandmothers garden. There all kinds of herbs were grown and then used and the leftovers sold by his mother in her store. They planted a few trees around to give some areas more shade and others they left completely in the sunlight from dawn to dusk.

The house was on the left side perfectly centred in it’s own half, with the foundation raised off the ground by half a meter. The thing that made their house different than those around was that they had another garden inside the centre of the house. It’s basic shape was once again a square and all of the house was built around it in a shape of a square ring. You could only enter the garden through the house. Or if you had wings. Like that fucking eagle... he shuddered. There was a basement under, and two floors above the foundation. The ground floor was where everything from kitchen to the living room was found, and upstairs were five rooms that were used mostly for sleeping, some for storage.

At a suggestion from Tercius, his grandfather started bringing his customers to their house first, and showed them around. Since then more business came their way, the income tripling. Neiran also stayed at their house ever since his grandparents passed away and his mother remarried the next year, and he became a sort of unofficial adopted son of Petra and Septimus.

"Boy are you going to stand there the whole night?" asked Balon clearly annoyed with him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"I am going, thank you for getting me here." he said.

"Well, it was an order, so don’t worry about it. Oh and if you decide to take Commander up on her offer, I eat at Sleepy Inn every fifth day of the week there, so just leave a message for me to the innkeeper." he said and went on his way down the dirt road.

He took a hesitant step forward, and then another, crossing inside. His mind made all sorts of scenarios up, some completely false to use as excuses, some variations of the truth, some in which he just kept quiet as usual. What am I going to do?

In front of him the door opened with his grandmother carrying a candle in one hand and leading Aurelia by the other.

"Brother!" she squealed and ran to him, hitting into him with all the speed she acquired on the 5 meter track. "See granma I told you I heard him! See!" She hugged his waist with all the strength she had. He crouched down and she gave him another hug, burying her face in his neck and he could feel the wetness on his skin. He swallowed back the rising emotion as his eyes misted over.

"There, there, I am back. Nothing to worry about." he tried comforting her with gentle voice while he picked her up and patted her back. She kept sobbing gently and doing the small hiccup that sometimes occurred when she cried. Grandmother came over and gave them both a hug, as the commotions stirred the rest of the household. In a moment a few familiar heads popped out of the house, but his mother, father and grandfather were not among them.

"They left as soon the Army finished their questions. They are searching for you." his grandmother caught his wandering gaze and gave the answer before he even asked the question.

"Don’t worry they will be here soon. Tarron take…" Maya, the cook/innkeeper, started giving an order to her son-in-law, taking control of the situation like only a long lived Matriarch could. Almost all of the adults present went out into the night to search for the search party. If it was left to his pragmatic side of brain, he would have waited for them to return, but that side was now taking a break.

"Let’s go inside. Tercius you must be hungry..." he was ushered in with the crowd by his grandmother.

***

He was fed and interrogated by the crowd once more, while Aurelia slept in his arms. Maya and Rona provided food and drink for everyone, while the conversation flowed. Some of the questions he had trouble answering because, well, even though these people were family friends, some friends of his own, the questions they posed came too near the topics he would rather not discuss with so many ears present. So he claimed he was tired and in a hurry left upstairs, where he went to his bed, his little sister clinging to him like a large koala bear. He was out cold in a moment.

The morning was upon him in what seemed like seconds, his sleep one large curtain of black. But he felt better, more composed and in control of himself. Tericius left Aurelia to sleep, while he wiped away the drool she left on his shoulder and hair. I will need to change that pillow too… he thought to himself.

When he came downstairs everyone was waiting for him. He got hugs, kisses and a whole lot of emotional tears from every parent and grandparent. And when they left all that behind, then came the questions. But he had something to do before that. He used Mana Sight to observe his surroundings, his eyes glowed blue, he scanned on all sides, then both up and down. Once he was satisfied that the only ones in the vicinity were members of his family, he took a deep breath and sat down, indicating to those around him to follow suit.

Once everyone was comfortably sitting around in a circle he made eye contact with his mother, then father, over to grandfather, then grandmother. Here goes nothing.

"Everyone, I have something to tell you."