Freya’s eyes narrowed as she stepped out. The reason for it was because her view of the little garden she called her own was interrupted by a single tall broad man.

“Major, what are you doing here?” She could only ask in an attempt to sound polite. Her gaze flickered to the plants, some of the little ones were thirsty. But none had been stepped on, that was good.

“Feel free to work if you want, I just came to talk a bit.”

“With all due respect, sir, this is the first time you have ever come here.” She spoke cautiously. “And I’ve known you for quite some time.”

“Let’s not mince words, Freya, you’ve known me since I could barely walk.” He glanced her way with a slight frown. “And you’ve been a wonderful teacher in many things.”

“But you are going to ask something of me.” Her brows narrowed further. “Should I start guessing?”

“Am I your superior officer, Freya?”

That shot a bolt straight through the elf, her lips pursed. “You are, sir, without a doubt.”

“I’d like you to spend a day as the bodyguard of one of the offworlders.”

Shit.

“The Tomas boy?” She needn’t wait for him to answer, now scowling all the more. “Gabriel, I’m not going to be a Catgirl chasing her tail.” The Elf tried her best to level her gaze with the human, not that it would work considering the height difference. “I don’t want you to pretend to know what I want. A partner is not something I need.”

“But he does.”

Freya’s ears drooped slightly. “Are you going to give me the order?”

The lumbering man shook his head. “Rick will be heading out to the Earl’s place, I’ve no doubt the other three will follow.” He crossed his arms. “If you don’t want it, I’ll just look for someone else.”

The choice of words startled her, the Elf couldn’t help but frown. “Why would I want to leave all of this?” She gestured at her garden. “You know my opinion on this matter already.”

“I’ve certainly heard it enough times, yes.” The man smirked. “Yet imagine my surprise when you were the first to volunteer to help protect them from the Baron.”

Freya shut her mouth before she could respond to that, looking away right as her cheeks took an uncharacteristic level of coloration. Coughing, she pushed her feelings under control. “Merely doing my job.”

“Suuure.” The insufferable man laughed. “You have a week to think about whether to do ‘your job’ some more or not.” As he stepped towards the fence, the Major paused, glancing at her once more. “Oh, and if you don’t want the role, I’ve heard more than a few names willing to jump at the opportunity.”

“I’m sure you have.” She growled, watching him leave and grinding her teeth for a minute before she managed to properly calm herself down.

With a huff, she focused on her children. It was easy to fall into the rhythm. The tomato seeds had taken properly and were growing in nicely, and she had to trim at the blueberry bushes since they were planning to kill their neighbors… again. Each of her children sang to her with their woes. Some had too many worms, others needed a bit more sunlight, the soil would be too dry, or too damp, she carefully tended to each of them.

The hours just melted away after that, and when she’d finished, it was time to go back inside and clean up. Freya picked out the ripest fruit and vegetables, and made a mental note on which plants were due a little boost. Maybe she’d visit the apple orchard tomorrow? With a basket full of fresh produce, she dropped it off at the kitchen and headed to the communal shower.

“Someone’s been having fun.”

The words snapped the Elf out of her internal reverie, her eyes staring at the Thundrix at the opposite side of the showers.

“Miss Ana.” She gulped, nodding quickly and very abruptly reminding herself to keep an eye out for the maiden’s wings. The last thing she wanted was getting a little jostle during a shower.

“Do we get any onions?”

“Yes, I made sure we’d have at least two for tonight.” The Elf replied with a nod.

“Great! Yours are always spicier. Tomorrow’s lunch’s going to be great.” The maiden smiled, soaping herself up and singing a little tune.

It was contagious, and Freya couldn’t help but nod along, keeping her own shower succinct. “You’re in charge of cooking today?”

“Nope, my turn got moved to tomorrow. Got a hot date.”

That caught Freya by surprise, the Elf nearly whirled to look at the maiden as she was scrubbing her wings. “Who in their right mind would date you?”

“Haha, very funny.” The maiden blew her a raspberry. “The Major finally lifted the ban on trying to get some otherworlder action, what with Dia having managed to bag the big hero and all that.”

The Elf’s movements slowed down ever so slightly, taking a moment to frown. “I thought the ban was because of the rush?”

“That too, I guess.” A little pause followed, the woman looked over her slim shoulder, taking a second to tend to her wing’s elbows, the feathers crackling with tiny sparks. “Gah, these always stick out, mind giving me a hand?”

“I’d rather not.”

“Oh, come on, the shocking thing was only one time!”

“If they care about some rustled feathers, maybe they don’t deserve you.” Freya smirked.

And Ana could only roll her eyes. “I’m looking for some fun, not a partner. Get on with the times, old hag.”

“Fine, be that way.” The woman twirled a finger, unleashing a tiny amount of elemental energy, the power washing over the feathers and causing some of them to take a slight mossy green discoloration.

“Hey!”

Freya had made a retreat before any retaliation could occur, the maiden keeping her head held high as she hastily dried her lithe figure and dressed up with her usual off-hours uniform. Quite aware that Ana might find some assistance in her attempt at minor revenge, Freya stepped outside. It wasn’t her turn cooking tonight, so she could burn some hours and eat late after Ana had left.

The first thing she picked up on was the scent of smoke. Part of the village had burned, and the fact the debris hadn’t been fully cleared out bothered her greatly. One more reason why she’d always keep her distance from lady Miranda. Too many things had the bad habit of catching fire when near the Phoenix.

With Freya’s steps leading her away from the smoke, she meandered her way into the small park near the center of the village. It was a popular spot for getting some food, what with the only two biggest taverns being right there, but since it would be a while longer before anyone started eating, she could use it to just let her thoughts wander about.

That is, if not because the lights suddenly went out.

Freya sighed. Another blackout, the girls at the power-station must be having it rough with their main source of power gone.

Killed at the hands of White Claw. The knight captain’s death had hit many far harder than the Baron’s. Freya certainly wished the mad-man hadn’t involved Bronte in his mess.

With a flicker of her focus, she chanted a small spell for illumination under her breath. The orb of light emerged, a dim green little glow that made it at least possible to move around without having to fear tripping over something.

A rustle drew her attention. She reached for the dagger on her belt, stopping as soon as she realized the one approaching was a human. Her throat tightened the second after when she realized exactly what human. “Tomas.”

“Mind if I share the light a bit?” The young man laughed nervously. “I’d use my phone, but it ran out of juice.”

“I’m not sure what a ‘phone’ is.” She didn’t refuse his approach, instead turning her senses elsewhere. With a human nearby, she would have to be more careful if anything unexpected got close.

“Oh, it’s an electronic device, and we call-.”

Freya tensed slightly. “I did not mean it as an actual question, sir. You… don’t need to explain.”

“I don’t mind.” His response was earnest and direct, shrugging before shifting his weight. “It’s more of a bit a breath of fresh air, really.” A shy smile emerged on his face. “So ask away.”

It wasn’t an order, Freya knew, still… it would be rude not to… right? “And… what use do phones have?”

“Lots of uses!” The young man perked, finger rubbing against the bridge of his nose and pausing. A little laugh left him. “No glasses, right. Erm, so phones, they originally started off mostly to be able to talk with people far away.”

“Like the radio messages?”

“Exactly!” He bounced slightly. “But it’s portable, and it allowed to talk in real time rather than only use written messages.”

How?

“And it has other functions?”

“Nowadays? Yeah, lots, it also lets to send images, moving images, with sound. And it has access to the Internet, or, well, had, and… well, I was using it to store up the codex.”

Freya’s ears perked up slightly. “The Maiden codex?”

“Yup.” Tomas nodded, hesitating a bit and scratching the back of his head. “It’s a whole lot of text, so I was storing a copy so I could read while traveling.”

“You can read.” The maiden felt a little twinge of pride, nodding at that. “Who taught you?”

“Oh, reading’s not… we were all taught how to read at school, since little, like, school starts at age… seven? Six?”

Freya crossed her arms for a moment, pushing away the little questions and glancing back into the surrounding movement. Most Hunters had summoned their own spell-lights, and she could spot more than one flickering source of illumination within. It cast the village in a soft starry glow.

The Elf tensed as she felt something warm drape over her shoulders, her head whipped back towards Tomas. He’d put his jacked on her. The young man blushed and looked away. “You looked chilly.”

Of all the ways she could have reacted to that proclamation, Freya chose to let out a small curse under her breath.

Tomas hesitated. “Did… I do something wrong?”

“No, no.” The Elf caressed the jacket, it was made of wool, yet was softer than any she’d ever seen before. And it was very warm. “Just… would you find it offensive if I were to invite you to have dinner with the other maidens and myself?”

“Wait, offensive, what? Why would I-?” Tomas froze, blinking rapidly.

“I will take that as a ‘no’.” She gestured with her head in the direction of the communal house. “We are having vegetable stew tonight.” Like most nights in fact.

But she had a feeling the human wouldn’t mind.