A woman at the Soi really intrigued me.

I was going to the famous place now and again, at night, to avoid my wife’s notice.

After some time there, I had tried every women of the establishment, even Karmena despite her exorbitant price.

But in one of the numerous Jarulavien rooms, I sometimes noticed a woman, all alone in the little room, who was not one of the Soi’s women.

I’ve never seen her face, but her curves exposed her femininity, while her muscles showed her rigorous training.

In the everyday life, I think this woman would have scared me, because, even on her knees, even with her svelte body, she seemed tall and imposing.

But in here, the woman just slept, or read a book coming from Adienha’s library.

She was calm and serene.

Now still, I hope that this woman, more than any of the others, survived.

Collection of Gite’s tales, Anonymous.

Nay was walking towards one of Gite’s military complexes. It was the first time she would enter such a place, even if there was quite a few scattered around the city. To be precise, there were ten in Lower-Gite, where soldiers of the regular army resided, buildings of blackish bricks, that Nay had seen a few times. They were square buildings, big, and devoid of any charm. On top of the plateau, the eleventh complex, of similar architecture but built with wood and white stone, was restricted to Virnyl guards. It was situated at the periphery of the residential centre.

Nay kept her head low, eyes riveted on the leather shoes worn by Herind.

He had only spoken when he arrived to escort her at dawn, and even then, it was only one sentence.

“Follow me disciple, the Commandare wants to talk to you.”

Nay was happy he came so early in the morning: She had not managed to fall back asleep after waking up in the middle of the night, and waiting in her room had gotten unbearable.

No-one cared about them on the road, but once they faced the military building, she felt the stares on her.

She knew most of the Virnyl guards around. She focused on the main entrance: a wooden door with rough glass panels inside. You could see a long corridor covered with ceramic walls through it.

Sat on a desk just behind the doors was a woman in her thirties. She had to be four times as heavy as Nay and looked fierce as a Tertia. Even Herind shivered when she called them out.

“Are you not greeting me?”

Herind tensed: “Good day to you, Rosemarie.”

Nay observed the woman named Rosemarie with a bit more attention.

She was not beautiful, and her being overweight really did not help. Still, Nay was admirative. For a woman to have a place in such a male-dominated place, she had to be exceptionally good at what she did.

Furthermore, the sharp green eyes of what seemed to be the secretary of the complex showed real intelligence.

Nay knew that kind of person well; she was like her mother. The young Legio quickly made herself a new friend.

“My greetings miss, my name is Nay. How are you today?” She said with her most beautiful smile.

The woman, seemingly on the verge of dissecting the poor Herind, changed her expression in a heartbeat.

“Oh. Oh! You are Nay? Herind, you brought me the first Virnyl guard!”

“She’s not yet a…”

Rosemarie had no intention of listening to Herind’s opinion and she ignored him completely while continuing with a delighted air.

“I am Rosemarie Giriri. I am the stewardess, the secretary, and the slave of all those barbarians. But you are not like them, I can see that! You’re just like Redrick, I can feel it. So nice, so polite.”

Nay winced when hearing herself compared to the man that horrified her, but Rosemarie was blind to it. “And to answer your question, I am in perfect health, and feel perfectly fine. Well, if you don’t count all the papers I have to sort because these idiots can’t do it themselves. But, with a bit of a feminine touch like you coming soon, I am sure things are going to change.”

Herind cleared his throat, trying to make her hurry up.

“You are so beautiful as well, you need to do something about your hair though, and you H-A-V-E to try a corset with such a body. You’d become Gite’s guard’s idol. Everyone, men and women alike, would fight to join us. Oh, oh! I need to talk about it to Gerrin, this is such a brilliant idea.”

Herind, whose patience was running thin, interrupted her.

“Rosemarie. Nay is not a Virnyl guard and probably never will be. We are going to see the Commandare, can you record my coming in the notebook and let us go?”

Rosemarie looked terribly offended.

“Yes, I know all about that. Poor girl, her friend, in such circumstances. And now all of those ridiculous stories going around.” She gave a compassionate look to Nay. “You have to ignore them you know. Everyone left the Plateau once or twice during their apprenticeship. Redrick is a smart man, he would never let go of a magnificent prize like you.”

Herind coughed, his foot kicking on the ground repeatedly.

“Oh, fine, go! I’m not in your way, am I! Can’t have a normal conversation in this place without getting rudely assaulted. I will have a word about this with Gerrin you know Herind!”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go Nay.”

Rosemarie mumbled rude comments towards Herind, loud enough for him to be able to hear them easily.

“If she wasn’t so damn good at her job…” Said Herind out loud when turning left after the corridor. The new corridor, very similar to the previous one, brought them directly to the Commandare’s office. Herind knocked and waited for the Commandare’s approval before entering. Nay followed suit.

The room was modest in size and opened at the back towards a cloister seemingly identical to the one in the Legio’s school.

The Commandare was showing his back to them, looking at a few Guards training outside. He had a towel over his shoulders and was wearing light clothing.

He turned around without looking at them and sat down at his desk. It was covered with parchments and book of all kinds. He pointed at the chair in front of him and began talking with his usual calm voice.

“You can leave us Herind. Nay, come and sit down.”

Both obeyed his orders, and Nay heard the door close behind her.

The Commandare stayed silent for a short instant, inspecting the pile of documents in front of him.

“You’re putting me in a delicate position, Nay.” He finally declared.

Nay did not say anything, waiting for what was to follow.

“First of all, I’m sorry about your friend. Even if what happened to her doesn’t surprise me in the least, I would have preferred you not being involved in her business.”

She clenched her teeth.

“You knew…”

“Of course. I believed that, if she could survive her problematic situation, she would deserve to enter the Guard. She held on longer than I thought because of you, but that wasn’t enough.”

Anger boiled inside of her, but Nay kept it under control. Her parent’s teachings were clearing her mind, anger would not make her gain anything.

“Why…why not help her if you knew?”

Redrick looked at her in surprise. “Because that’s not my role. I’m not the saviour of woman and child. That’s the best way to finish six feet underground, or worse get glorified as a hero. Me and Marke are survivors, first and foremost.”

Comparing himself to her father made her blood curdle, after those few months, she had forgotten why she hated the Commandare so much.

“What is your role, then?”

“To protect Gite, obviously.”

“But not its inhabitants.”

The Commandare grinned.

“No, not each and every one of them. I protect the common good, not the individual one. You have to choose between the two, you know.”

His words made Nay want to vomit, because somehow, what he said sounded true.

“Anyway, your friend brought us some very precious information about the Assini organisation. Which brings us to your punishment.”

Before Nay could prepare for what was to follow, Redrick continued.

“You are supposed to commence the Mission next month. Instead, it shall be today. Your objective is to destroy the infrastructure letting the Assini’s operate as freely as they do. Black market, where they train their recruits, so on and so on. Should only take you a few weeks at most. Then, after your post-Mission furlough, you’ll come back here to train, with me personally. You’ll have a place to sleep, somewhere. As frugal a place as possible of course, it is a punishment after all.”

Nay ingested all the information at once. “You want me to destroy Gite’s most dangerous criminal organisation, in a few weeks…on my own?”

“No, you’ll be helped with your friend the Duke’s daughter. She was amongst those informing us about the Assini and she’ll be necessary to the success of this Mission.”

“…And after those few weeks, I’ll stay the rest of the next year here, under your direct orders.”

“That is what I said. You could also be accompanying me to the capital a few times. I desperately need someone to occupy my time on the road, I’m always feeling rusty after those trips.”

There was a long blank. The Commandare was back to reading his papers.

“Anything else?” Finally asked Nay.

“Mh. Those rumours about your powers…I will make them disappear. I’d rather you don’t end up in Leïn’s cathedral. It goes without saying you will not use any of those powers during our duels, that would make me…angry.”

Nay shivered.

“You don’t seem to have any doubts I have some.”

Redrick raised his head, trying to find something in her expression, as if she were mocking him somehow.

“What the hell did Marke teach you? To read the Rreico you need a basis of magic. It should also let you recognise other mages. Not being able to read the Rreico myself, I have other ways at my disposal. Not as good as the art of reading Auras, or the Carradinoris tattoos, but well effective enough for me to distinguish a normal human from a mage. I knew about you being a mage, sorry, a God-Touched…” He had said the word with a well-hidden expression of contempt. “…the moment I saw you the first time we met. Marke would have seen the same, with even more certainty and precision than I. Now, leave, I have administrative work to catch up on.”

With that, he sighed, and got back to his papers.

Nay hid her shock. Marke knew? Since the beginning?

Did he lie to her?

No, he had revealed the truth to her, just later.

Finally, after having her world turned around about her father and her future, yet again by this man she feared so, the emotion that predominated in her heart was…indifference.

After all, was getting rid of the Assini not a way of honouring her friend?

Still, she felt no anger nor desire to take revenge.

She felt…nothing

Monster of Gite.

Redrick looked at her, eyebrows furled, surprised she had not left yet.

She saw his look, stood up in a hurry, and left the room.

Herind was waiting for her.

“Nay?”

She did not answer him.

“I’m not accompanying you on your way back. You know your orders. You are to be mobilized today. Trinne has been informed of the details this morning and is waiting for you in the great hall.”

Nay nodded weakly.

She walked with no thought outside, not forgetting to thank the secretary and giving her a big smile while leaving. The large woman gave her a smile in return, far from understanding what kind of energy the fake expression had cost Nay.

The young Legio found her way back easily. The Duke’s plateau was not exactly big, and even though she had never explored this part of town, she knew the streets and buildings through her lessons on the city.

Once arrived at the Academy, she entered the building without even looking at the guard posted at its entrance. She could certainly have recognised him if she had taken the time to observe him, but she did not care.

Though she did see him take a step back when she passed next to him.

Empty, the great hall seemed even more gloomy than usual. The only aspect giving it life was Trinne, sitting in front of a large wooden table, lost in numerous books and parchments piled on top of it. She immediately stood up when seeing Nay. Her cold stare struck Nay, pulling her away from her state of half there, half not there.

Trinne was not angry, nor sad, no, she was looking at the Legio indifferently.

Nay felt her heart crack even more. Anger, she could handle. But rejection from the beautiful teenager, who had been so close to becoming a friend, hurt her immensely.

“Nay, here is the deal. There are four spots linked with the Assini, according to the Commandare’s informants. Problem is, no way of knowing which one is the better target. Apparently, the black market where they resell stolen goods, sign contracts, or present new recruits, changes constantly between a few places.” While talking, she showed Nay a pile of parchments scattered on the table. Some had fallen on the ground, but the Duke’s daughter did not seem to mind.

Nay could see plans of the city, some with notes scribbled on. She recognised the writing of some of them. To her knowledge, only Trinne could transform normal letters into pieces of art.

“You wrote all of this this morning?”

Trinne looked at her, taken aback.

“What? No, I was given my orders at the start of the week. I was supposed to get support from a few Virnyl guards, but I received a letter telling me that in the end, I would receive the help of an apprentice. With everything that happened, it was not hard to guess it would be you. Which makes me visiting your room last week quite superfluous.”

She had said that with serenity.

“You don’t seem angry.”

“Why should I be?”

“You have lost Virnyl guards, plural, to get a single apprentice.”

Trinne had a cold smile.

“Nay…We learned to fight together; we know each other. I wanted you for my Mission, and that is exactly what I got in exchange. Not only as a bodyguard either. You will not need to help me secretly; you will be allowed to do it openly. I thought the mission impossible. Not anymore.”

Trinne thought more highly of her than Nay thought. Probably too much so.

She did not protect Joanna, after all.

“What do you think about it, Nay?” The Duke’s daughter asked her while pointing at the papers in front of her.

Four places, suitable for the criminal activities they had to put an end to.

Two were close to the docks, easy of access, old markets now only used by fishermen twice a month to stock and gut fishes. The rest of the time, the locations were unused.

In general, no guards were present there, and when they were, they reported a deserted place.

For the first of those two locations, Trinne’s notes indicated that a weapon cache had been found the previous month, and according to the informer, the smell of poppy seeds was stronger than fish.

On top of an impressive pile of papers, a parchment resumed the information about the second location. Nay did not know the author, it was not Trinne, but she had to admit it was a good job.

“Who wrote that?”

“I don’t know, not that it matters so I did not try to find out. I checked the information, everything seems correct, so I kept it as it is.”

Nay took the document, which resulted in the pile underneath to fall over.

The list was extensive. It was more than obvious something illegal was happening on this marketplace, for at least two years.

The third location, a warehouse, was situated only one block away from the second location. The agency of the beams, the pillars covered with torn fabric, everything led to believe this place was used as training ground.

The intel about the fourth location had been gathered by Trinne. It was not a warehouse nor an open marketplace like the three others. Just a normal house north of the city. Nothing screamed Assini headquarters.

“Why there?”

“Because that was where I was going with my father when I was younger.”

Silence.

The Legio focused, remembering the Virnyl guards’ lessons, and the tales of Ra’fa and the Sage-Brother. Everything appeared in her mind.

What would Marke do with all this?

“There are not four possible locations.” She finally declared.

Trinne looked at her with no change of expression.

“Explain yourself.”

“They only gather occasionally, each time in one of those places, except the fourth, probably kept to meet with special clients. Moreover, you would never have managed to get all of this intel in one week, no matter how good you are.”

Trinne bit her lower lip.

“Yes, I could have.”

“Not with your father waiting for any opportunity to…dispose of you. And not with us being stuck on the Plateau during our ‘holidays’.”

Trinne did not reply anything.

“In conclusion, this intel has been known for a long time. Most likely years for some. The second locations is without a doubt the result of years of work.”

“So?”

“So, it’s impossible. The Assini should have been stopped a long time ago. But not only was there no action taken against them, they don’t even guard the places where the Assini so obviously regularly meet!”

Nay came to the only logical conclusion in her mind.

“Which means that nothing is done because…they are not allowed to do anything. They did not get the authorisation…from your father I suppose.”

“True.”

“I promised that I would be here. Secretly or not, it would not have mattered. You don’t care if I’m here officially or not. The difference is that you’ll only have me. No one else, no other guard.”

Trinne smiled with this haughty air she alone could have.

Nay continued. “You’re happy I’m here because, if I’m the only one involved, you limit the chances of your plans getting foiled. You think some of the Virnyl guards are controlled by your father.”

“Think?” Trinne looked at her mockingly. “Think? Nay, please, I know some of the guards are under my father’s thumb.”

“I have never met one not admirative of Redrick.”

“And in a way, you are right: they all are. Doesn’t stop some of them to want to get rid of the Commandare because of his sexual preferences.”

Nay grit her teeth. She was not surprised the Duke’s daughter was aware of the Commandare’s particularity, after all Redrick himself was not exactly hiding it. But she could not believe that was the reason why he had traitors amongst his men. He was dangerous, manipulative, a killer without soul. But the problem was that he liked both men and women, really?

She thought it ridiculous.

“Nay.” Trinne pulled her out of her thoughts. “We’ll be alone against the whole Assini organisation, are you ready?”

The Legio looked at her red-haired comrade with a sad smile.

“We have no chance to succeed. If this mission was approved of, it means the Commandare asked the Duke, and that the Duke saw it as an opportunity to easily get rid of two birds with one stone. They’ll know we’re coming, at every location.” She thought about it a bit more. “…Except the fourth, maybe? Maybe they don’t expect us to…”

Trinne interrupted her. “Of course they will. That is where my father will put most of his men. The other three locations will be taken care of by the Assini.

Nay did not know what to say anymore.

“So, what do we do?” She finally settled for asking.

“I would have proposed to flee the city, but three days with you on the road, and I’ll most likely kill you in your sleep.”

There was a long blank.

Trinne gave her a disturbing smile.

“I was joking.”

Nay looked at her, eyes wide. To her knowledge, this was the first time she heard the redhead make a joke.

“Be free of worries, little Touched, I have a plan.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Can’t really call you flat plateau anymore, can I? And Yaeda-milk is getting old.”

“Trinne, you’re free to hate me about Joanna, but the one who’s blaming herself the most is myself. I don’t need you to remind me of my wrongdoings with a ridiculous nickname. Which by the way, could be dangerous for me and you.”

“How would it be dangerous?”

“The Commandare wants to sweep the whole thing under a rug. If Ja worshippers or some priest heard about the rumours, they’d come to interrogate everyone on this so-called miracle. My mother told me about how those people ask questions. I bet you know as well.”

Trinne did not say anything back. After a short silence, she finally started talking again.

“I don’t hate you. I would love to hate you, Nay, but I can’t. I don’t want to feel anything for you, because you don’t deserve it, but I can’t do that either. You piss me off, you intrigue me, you amuse me, you make me want to murder you. But I never felt hatred towards you.”

Nay laughed.

“Please, a few years ago, you hated me more than anyone else.”

Trinne looked sombre.

“Not true. The one I hated was myself. Because I should have been the best but wasn’t. I was admirative of you, still am, and I hate feeling that. Admiration is something that people should feel about me.”

The avowal created a strange feeling inside the Legio’s belly. For the first time since her friend’s death, her heart was not aching. She immediately felt guilty about it.

“You are unbelievably arrogant…” Nay was openly criticising her. It was a first in their relationship.

It only made the Duke’s daughter smile.

“I am not arrogant. I am better than most of you plebs and I know it. It’s not arrogance, it’s realism.”

Nay almost choked at that.

“Do you hear yourself?”

Trinne continued, unperturbed.

“Your father taught me that. A lesson I will never forget. There is always someone stronger than you. I may be the smartest, but you are stronger, on all other aspects. I can accept that or hate myself for not attaining my unrealistic expectations of myself. I found a better way.”

Nay stared at the redhead, a bit worried. She had a crazed look, a demented smile.

“You’ll be my blade Nay. I will be the brain; you will be the body. With the both of us, no one will be able to stop us.”

“Trinne, you’re making no sense…Even if you become Duke and I serve under your orders, there will always be a Redrick or a Marke to put us back in our place.”

“True, for now. Soon, a few years from now on, when we will be more experienced, we will surpass them. And together? We’ll be better than everyone.”

Her gaze went back to normal, her expression back to neutral. She came closer to the Legio’s face, only a breath away.

“And I shall prove it to you. We will not run away. No. We shall succeed this Mission. Not in a month like we were asked to. In less than two weeks.”

Nay felt her Rreico. It was like no other. As if it had an odour.

Something hard yet soft, mixture of metal and flowers.

And there was like a colour, a haze of blue, glowing around her friend.

Her friend.

This realization disturbed Nay more than the impossible Rreico she was perceiving.

Despite Trinne’s arrogance, despite her shortcomings, despite Nay’s anger towards her.

But…why not just trust her? What did she have to lose?

Maybe to honour Joanna’s memory, punishing the ones who had killed her were not the way to go. Maybe it was to make sure her fate never befell on anyone else.

“I will follow you, Trinne.” Nay promised.

“Good. Then this is what you will do.”