Aari watched as Luana chugged down the beer from the bottle, tilting her head all the way back to get every last drop of it. They were at his place, in his relatively large living quarters in the heart of the Screeching Crow, getting drunk together. Though the two got drunk together a lot, Aari found this night to be a little different from the rest as he was concerned with how upset she was about her argument with Thea.

It seemed like Luana was really worrying herself over it.

Though to be honest, Aari was a little worried too.

What Luana had told him... that didn't seem like something Thea would say, though of course, the Thea he knew was from years ago... sweet, with big eyes, a warm heart and a smile that made everyone who saw it happy. It was that smile that pulled him away from his own troubles as a child, and though he had only caught a few glimpses of her here and there, it was enough to know that she never wore that smile much anymore.

That made it clear to him that frankly, whether he liked to admit it or not, he didn't really know her at all anymore. He was in no place to assume she would act one way or another.

"Would you have done it?" Luana asked. Her eyes were drooping, probably from all the alcohol as well as the exhaustion from a full week of work. "Would you have gone behind Niall's back to help a Crow?"

Aari frowned before drinking some of his own beer. "No," he said. "I wouldn't go behind the General's back."

Luana nodded, looking a little relieved.

They sat there quietly for some time before she got up and walked over to the old refrigerator that worked only half the time, opening it up and grabbing another beer. "Luana, that's five," Aari said. "I'm cutting you off."

"Shuttup," was her response as she popped off the cap.

Aari let out a deep breath and watched as she drank some more. Then, when she pulled the bottle away from her lips, she looked back at him. "Would you want your family to know?"

Aari sighed and looked down at his own bottle. "I don't have a family."

"Yes you do," she responded, returning to her seat across from him on the dining room table. "You have a mom and dad in Abureth. You can hate them or whatever, but that's family. Would you want them to know... when you were suffering... would you have wanted them to know you were alive? Even now... even though you're okay... would you want them to know you're alive?"

Aari didn't look at her.

He never really had a good relationship with his parents, even as a kid. Rich and stuck up and expecting perfection from him from the moment he could identify the difference between yes and no, his parents had pushed him to the brink of insanity way more than once. That was why he so quickly became so close to Thea– she wanted nothing from him. Instead... all she ever wanted to do was give... to give him her friendship, her love, her attention. When he first met her, he wasn't used to that.

Of course, though they were close, she wasn't the 'family' that Luana was referring to, and so his mind returned to the face of his parents... people he cared so little for. He couldn't care less whether the knew that he died or lived or anything for that matter.

But there was his sister, and though she was gone, it was his sister that he was close to. So in his head, he rephrased her question for her. Would he have wanted his sister to know... when he was rotting in on his own before the General came and saved him... would he have wanted her to know he was alive?

Or even Thea? He had left her behind too, after all. Would he have wanted her to know he was alive?

"No."

He couldn't speak for Thea, but his sister... he knew it would have hurt her to know that he was suffering. It would have destroyed her to know that he was out there somewhere... and never coming back.

There was a finality to death that helped people move on. Maybe it would take them a few days, or maybe it would take them years... but however long it took, at least there was an end.

There was not an end when someone you loved knew you were alive and lost and alone and in pain.

No. He wouldn't have wanted her to know.

He would have wanted her to move on

Luana nodded slowly. "So... I wasn't wrong to say what I said?"

"No, Luana," Aari said, looking up at her. "You weren't wrong. You said the right thing."

She continued nodding, looking to be feeling a little reassured despite still looking sad.

"And hopefully... Thea see's that you're right too."







Luana had intended on apologizing to Thea. Even though Luana knew for certain that she had no reason to apologize, she still wanted to. She didn't want to stay mad, especially when she knew that Thea was going through something. Milo hadn't told her the details, but he told her it was something.

It was a Saturday morning and Luana expected to find her at the Greenwood Hostel, but as she continuously knocked on the door to her room and got no response, she started to get annoyed.

At first, she thought Thea was ignoring her, but then the Aiverian girl with the glasses named Bailey walked out of her own room. "Oh, hello," she smiled a friendly smile. Thea always mentioned that this one was the nice one.

"Mornin'," Luana greeted, smiling. "Is Thea in?"

Bailey shook her head. "I saw her leave earlier this morning," she said. "She had a small suitcase packed... I assumed she was heading home for the weekend. She didn't tell you?"

Luana blinked, feeling her heart sink. "No... thanks though."

Leaving the hostel as fast as she could, Luana found herself dashing down through the grounds of Achlis before jumping onto a streetcar that took her straight to the train station. When she got there, she rushed over to one of the three ticket windows, budding ahead of a few people. "I need to see your logs," she said to the booking clerk.

"Excuse me?" The uniformed Aiverian man said with a sharp look of anger. "Get to the back of the line–"

Luana pulled out her military identification and slammed it on the table in front of him. "I'm with the State Military, working under General Niall Killian, the Deputy Secretary of Defense," she said, well aware of the fact that she was not in uniform and that probably didn't help her cause. "I need you to show me, right now, where Theavi Rhaanan is headed. What ticket did she buy?"

The man looked shocked, but began stuttering.

"Check all the logs, and quick... check the ones at the other window too."

He did as she said, pulling up the logs before returning to her. "Theavi Rhaanan. She bought a ticket to Danyo City Station. The train left at seven."

Luana's heart sank.

She went ahead with it.

She had broken their trust.







When Niall opened the door, he looked at Luana with a look of both concern and surprise. Sometimes Luana felt like he always looked at her like that - with both concern and surprise, but today, she felt it was justified.

She was gasping for air, gripping tightly onto the door frame as Niall reached out and touched her arm. "What is it, Luana? What happened?"

She knew how this must have looked... his initial thought was probably, most certainly, that she was in some kind of danger. So she held her finger up, allowing herself to catch her breath. "The streetcar... took forever... so I ran."

"Why?" He asked, his concern fading just slightly. "Do you want to come in?"

She shook her head, looking down.

Was she really going to do this?

What if Thea told her what she told her in confidence?

What if telling the General was the wrong thing to do?

When she looked back at Niall, she saw that he looked rather disheveled. Though Luana never thought of him as handsome, she always thought he was more of a looker when he was kind of a mess, when he looked like he wasn't trying so hard to look as expensive as his father once was.

Of course, she knew he didn't dress the way he did because he wanted to... she knew it came with the job... and it wasn't like he was lying to himself or something. In fact, she knew that he was the way he was because he knew exactly who he was. He knew what he had to do to make people take him at least a little seriously since he was half-blooded... he knew what he had to do, despite the fact that if he had the chance, he would throw it all away and run off to some remote mountain town to live on his own.

Niall knew exactly who he was, what he needed to do and how to move forward with that while ignoring his own desires.

Whatever the case, looking at him with that in mind, as well as with the messy hair and the five o'clock shadow, and seeing the concern in his eyes made her more determined to be honest with him.

He had given up so much of himself and so much of what he wanted so that he could be a better leader to them... a better leader to everyone. He had given away so much to do the right thing for them. And even with all of that, he was honest with her. He always was... and so it was her duty to do the same for him. She had to.

She took a deep breath. "Vetori told Thea that he wanted her to go tell his family that he's alive and she left this morning to go do it."

Niall stared at her in silence for a moment, his expression growing serious as the seconds passed, his jaw clenching, his muscles tensing. Within seconds, he went from the tired looking Niall, who had clearly used this day as an opportunity to sleep in at least once this week, to the General of the Aiverian army. "Why are you telling me this now?"

Luana almost instantly found herself standing at attention, her stomach turning just a little. No matter how easy going and fun loving she may have been, or what her relationship with Niall was, seeing Niall get serious always made her tense up. "I didn't think she'd actually go through with it."

"Does Milo know?"

"I don't know how much he knows... I haven't talked to him since yesterday."

The General ran his fingers through his hair as he turned around, walking back into his apartment, a look of disbelief washing over his face. Luana followed him and watched as he began pacing, rubbing the shadow over his chin. He was thinking in silence for a while before speaking up. "She's made an incredibly stupid decision."

Luana could only nod.

"Tell me, where is Vetori's family from?"

"I'm not sure... the booking clerk said her ticket was to Danyo City Station... But Milo would be a better bet."

"Danyo?" he let out an angry breath. "That's eight hours away."

"The ticket was for seven."

He continued pacing and then he paused, looking like he realized something. "Aari recently received some intel on a sizable Crow Division in northern Danyo after interrogating a few recently captured Crows at the Camp. It's an extremely anti-state, Revolutionary Crow division that's been well hidden for a while."

Luana hesitated, remembering Niall mentioning that. The same Crows were the ones who told Aari about the potential Second-in-Command to Orynan in Abureth. They hadn't had a chance to look into it further because everyone was so concerned about the news of a Second-in-Command... but also Rue. Rue was taking up everyone's minds. "So?"

"Vetori was captured when participating in the bombing of the Southern Danyo Fort at the Old Border two years ago," Niall said. "It was orchestrated by a Crow division in Danyo but we never found where their division was hiding... and that division was also known for being extremely anti-state Revolutionary Crows."

Luana blood began to run cold. "The bombing that nearly started another Civil War?"

"Aari's intel and this may be linked," he continued, seeming like he was talking more to himself. "And she took Monday off, which means it's safe to assume that she plans on spending some time there. If she lets the family there know... and this information is passed on to these Crows while she's still there..."

Luana's heart began to sink. "Could she be in danger?"

The General cursed as he walked over to the telephone. Luana already knew who he was calling.