Thea used her free hand to grab her brother by his shoulder and shake him. "What were you thinking?" She asked loudly, having heard the deep rumbling of the Rolls Royce as it drove off.

Her brother shoved her hand away before looking back at her in disbelief. "What was I thinking?" He scoffed. "What were you thinking? What made you think that leaving with the Aiverian Military would be a good idea? Do you know what they could have done to you? You hear the stories and read the news. You know what happened to Amara. You should know better than any─"

Her mother cut off her brother by pushing him aside and grabbing Thea, rubbing her upper arms in a soothing gesture "Are you well, child?" she asked. "Did they hurt you?"

"No, Ma," Thea responded. "They─"

"Did they touch you?" Her grandmother asked when she reached them. "Did they threaten you?"

"No, not at all," Thea said. She was going to continue, but her father came running out of the home at the sight of her. "Theavi," he said, following her name up with a relieved sigh. "Are you hurt?"

"No," she said. "I'm perfectly fine."

Though she knew she shouldn't have felt this way, she couldn't help but think that this was the most attention she had gotten in a very long time. The feeling of knowing that everyone was so worried about her... it touched her. "I'm perfectly fine," she repeated as she watched her brother walk over to the garden and pull out the rifle that he had hid there. "What were you planning on doing?" She asked her brother. "Storming the Abureth Military Base and shooting down as many soldiers as you could before they killed you?"

She was being sarcastic, but the frustrated look on her brother's face seemed to suggest that that was exactly what he was planning.

Thea straightened herself up, looking at her brother with an expression of disbelief. "Brother─"

"What did they need you for?" He asked.

"You're supposed to be the smart one," she snapped, ignoring him. "The smart one doesn't plan suicide missions!" Thea knew that her brother hated when she argued with him, but she couldn't help herself. "The Head of the Aiverian Army and the Deputy Secretary of Defense was behind that gate, Brother. General Niall Killian. What do you think he would have done to you if he saw you holding a goddamn rifle that the Crows use?"

Though everyone silenced as soon as they heard the name of the General, her brother decided to argue back. "You should have let him see it. It would have given him a reason to come to me and I could have shot that good for nothing traitor."

Now Thea scoffed. "And now you're talking like them too! Those rowdy friends of yours─"

"Don't patronize me," her brother suddenly growled, "little sister."

The tone of his voice made Thea falter, as it often did. It also reminded her that he was no longer the same man he was before those Crows got to him. He was no longer the affectionate, loving and sometimes silly brother who protected her and held her tightly in his arms when she was scared or sad or anxious. He was no longer the man she had a glimpse of last night when she came home, miserable after a horrible day.

If she was in danger, she would never want him to run into the middle of it all to protect or avenge her. She would never want that. What she wanted instead, was him to be next to her, to hold her hand and to make her feel safe with just his presence... just like he did when they were kids, when the state military was fighting against the Crows in the Civil War and the fighting had reached their town.

But all of that was gone.

He was now the gunslinging Crow who treated her like she didn't understand anything.

"I'll ask one more time, Theavi," he said. "What the hell did they want with you?"

She kept a steady stare for a moment, locking her eyes with his as an act of defiance, or an attempt to prove that he didn't scare her and that he couldn't tell her what to do. And when she felt she had made her point clear, she turned to her mother, father and grandmother, who all looked at her with a look of perpetual concern.

She let out a breath, looking down at the expensive looking leather portfolio before looking back at her family. "The General... he wants to give me a job."







"No," her brother, who was pacing in the living room, said sternly, "absolutely not."

After thanking everyone for their worry, Thea, her parents, grandmother and brother went into their home to discuss the details of what had happened in that car with the General.

The rest of her family sat on the sofas in the living room, looking in shock at Thea as she explained everything to them... at least, everything she was allowed to say.

Her brother, of course, was not having it.

Thea ignored him, looking directly at her parents. "They're offering me housing as well, and if, for whatever reason, I decide that this is not for me and I want to leave, he said I can leave, no questions asked."

In any other situation, she knew her parents would have completely disapproved of such a job. How could they not? The thought of their young, unmarried daughter leaving on her own to the Capital of all places, for a job with the Aiverian State that would involve being surrounded by soldiers was something that should have been unfathomable.

Going to the Capital for school was one thing... but this?

But... it was the salary that made everyone hesitate.

Even her protective father choked on his drink when she mentioned the salary.

She could pay off all of her student debts in a matter of a year.

She could pay off all of her family's debts in a matter of a year and a half.

Her parents, who were getting old and tired... they could retire early and finally relax after working all their lives.

With a salary like that, they would be well off.

She knew her parents would never say it out loud, but it was what they were thinking, and it was a legitimate thought.

"And what are you thinking about it?" Her grandmother asked.

Thea looked down at her hands, but before she could speak, her brother interjected. "It doesn't matter what she thinks," he said. "She can't do this, obviously."

Her eyes fell on her brother, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Do you know what people would say if they found out you were working for the State?"

"You don't want me to accept a potentially stable and very high paying job because you're afraid of what your Crow friends will think?"

Theus let out a frustrated sigh, looking at their father. "You can't possibly be entertaining this, Pa?" He said. "If she goes ahead with something like this, it could destroy her reputation. You think any family would want their son to marry a girl who's spent so much time galavanting around with those Aiverian State pigs?"

"Marriage?" Thea scoffed. "You think─"

"And that's if she doesn't come home in a body bag before that," he continued. Thea swallowed back her words as her brother looked at her. "The Capital is volatile right now," he said. "Just yesterday, an Elorian family business in the Capital was ransacked and the family was slaughtered by Aiverian thugs. Do you know what the State did? Nothing."

Thea let out a breath. She hadn't heard of this, but it wasn't necessarily unusual. As horrible as it sounded, they heard this kind of news all the time and somehow, though of course it was sad, it seemed unsurprising.

"The people of the Capital are not friendly to Elorians," he said. "They never have been... and this is what happens to our people who disregard that and try to live there anyways."

Her father let out a sigh. "Your brother is right, Thea."

She hesitated. "The General ensured that I would be protected. He promised I will be safe."

"The Aiverian State law promises that all our people will be protected, but look where we are now," her brother countered. "And you can't trust a single thing that comes out of that traitor's mouth. He is the last person you should be trusting."

Thea looked away from her brother, frustrated, but knowing that he wasn't entirely wrong. However, when she looked away, her eyes met her grandmother's and she saw that her grandmother was wearing an expression that seemed to suggest that she disagreed with everyone.

"I think she should do it," her grandmother surprised everyone by saying.

As everyone looked at her in surprise, the older woman and now retired principal of the famous Abureth College kept her gaze on Thea's parents and her brother strong.

She ran her fingers through her granddaughter's long hair as she spoke, relaxing her. Her mother and grandmother were the only people Thea ever let touch her hair nowadays... they were the only people who could touch it without making her panic or sweat. And the feeling of her grandmother's fingers through her hair made Thea feel a sense of calm. "We are concerning ourselves over all the negatives of this and forgetting about the potential positives," she said. "Thea is being offered access to resources that would allow her to pursue her dream of providing transparency when it comes to the conflict between us and the Aiverians."

Thea perked up at that reminder.

Yes.

There was certainly that.

"The job entails her interviewing our boys who have been locked up for years simply because they were fighting for our freedom... and this General, whatever his reputation, is offering to let her walk away with this information. She could share their stories... she could write papers, books, articles, whatever, and share their stories and shine a light on what is actually happening to our people."

"Yes," her brother started. "After the traitor General uses any relevant information to wipe out the last of us." Thea wasn't surprised that Theus was able to put two and two together and figure out that yes, the General would also be getting this information, though Thea hadn't specifically mentioned that.

"You are forgetting that he is half Elorian," my grandmother said. "He must have some empathy─"

"Right, because that empathy certainly showed itself when he turned on us during the Civil War," her brother countered sarcastically.

Their grandmother frowned. "Picking up a gun and marching around, pretending to have power is not the only way to fight this."

"I agree with that, Grandmother, but that doesn't mean we throw my sister into the lion's den so that they can do whatever it is that they want with her."

"Then who else is there to throw in?" Thea asked, looking at her brother. "You know as well as I do that if everyone else thought what you thought then there would never be change. I've been given this opportunity that no one else may get, don't you think I should take it and do my best, whatever the risks?"

"No," he responded. "I don't think that."

She let out a frustrated breath. "What difference is there between me taking this risk and you taking the risk of running around with the Crows?"

Her brother hesitated. "The difference, Thea, is that I can handle the risks."

"And what makes you think that I can't?"

Her brother looked at her intensely. "You've already spent two years in the Capital, Thea... and you were living in the safety of the walls of the A.N.U. campus... that went well for you, didn't it?"

The blood drained from Thea's face as she looked at her brother, horrified that he would bring it up. He wasn't allowed to talk about it. Not in front of their parents.

Seeing her reaction, her brother nodded slowly. "Exactly."

Thea looked down at her hands, feeling them begin to shake again. She began to bounce her leg up and down in an attempt to hide the shaking before she let out a breath and once again began to feel the distance that her brother's anger and hatred towards the State had wedged between them.

The one thing that made the memory of her time at A.N.U. better was the memory of her brother catching the last train to the Capital to be with her when everything went wrong. She remembered being terrified, she remembered the shaking and how cold she felt. But everything was made at least a little better when her brother showed up and helped to pick all the pieces back up.

He didn't threaten to kill anyone... he didn't even make her tell him who had hurt her.

He just stayed with her and held her and reminded her that she could do absolutely anything... and that her big brother would always be there by her side.

And now it seemed like all of that was a lie.

He was here, sure... but he wasn't by her side.

In fact, it seemed like he was miles away from her.

But despite that, even if the man who was in front of her now wasn't the same man she once knew, she frowned and thought back to the man her brother used to be. He would have had faith in her capabilities. He would have trusted her. He would have been scared for her safety, yes, but he would have trusted her to be able to make her own decisions, and made sure to be there if and when everything went wrong.

That was the brother she would listen to.

After a moment of thinking while chewing on her lip, Thea let out a breath and stood up. "I'm going to do it."

"What?" Her brother spat. Even her parents stood.

"Thea," her mother began. "You mustn't─"

"I'm going to go with them tomorrow," she continued. "I'm going to see how it goes, give it a month or so, and if I feel safe and I like what I'm doing, then I will stay. If not, I will come home."

"Seems reasonable to me," her grandmother said.

Her mother and father looked at each other, concerned and not really knowing if the benefits that came with this position were worthwhile.

"I'm going to go pack my things─"

Thea was cut off by her brother, who grabbed her by the arm so aggressively that she winced. "If you go to work for that half-breed traitor then I refuse to call you my sister."

"You're going to disown me?" She scoffed. She then pulled her arm away, glaring at him. "Fine, then don't call me your sister," she responded. "The man who I called my brother has been long gone anyways."







The mood in her home was a rather solemn one as she packed her things that evening. She couldn't help but feel like her family was acting like someone had died. However, even though she did believe that they were being dramatic, she did certainly understand their fear.

What made things worse was that this was the first time she was returning to the capital since she came home from her undergraduate studies at the Aiverian National University. Even her suitcases hadn't been touched since then, so opening those up again filled her with a large level of anxiety that she wasn't entirely ready to face.

She would have really liked her brother to be there with her right then. To just talk to her and keep her company while she worked through her fears herself.

But he wasn't.

Instead, he had left their home... to do what? Thea had no idea.

Thankfully however, Thea's grandmother was incredibly helpful, sitting by her side and helping her fold her clothes while she neatly organized them into her three suitcases, all different sizes.

As they packed together, her grandmother made an effort to instruct Thea on how to stay safe in the Capital. Of course, her grandmother kept reiterating the fact that Thea should already know this, seeing as she had spent two years in the capital already. But only Thea and her brother knew how badly those two years had gone, so any advice her grandmother had was incredibly useful.

It was only when the moon had risen up into the sky that Thea's mother joined in, giving up on the silence game and bringing over dinner for Thea as well. Then, together, the three Rhannan women worked together to pack Thea's things.

And seeing the two most important women in her life helping her managed to fill her with the confidence she needed. She knew both women were strong and both women were wise... women who Thea aspired to be like. So their approval was enough... especially her grandmother's.

Her grandmother was once the principal at Abureth College, the top secondary school in the province and for that reason she always held a highly respected position in the community and had once had the livelihood of hundreds of students in the palm of her hands. But the love and respect for her came from the fact that her grandmother was always good. She cared about every student that passed through her school.

Even retired, she wasn't just well respected in her family, but she was a pivotal figure in the entire community... the woman that everyone would come to for advice when things go wrong, but also the woman that everyone would come to for blessings when things went right.

And Thea loved her grandmother for that very reason. If all of Abureth, and even many in the Province of Elore as a whole, could trust her grandmother, why shouldn't she?

Thea watched her grandmother as the woman instructed her mother on how to perfectly fit some of Thea's books into her luggage. She smiled warmly, feeling a little bit of confidence rush through her.

Yes. If her grandmother believed that she would be fine... then she would be fine.