• Solo • A Study in Secrets II

[Russel Kandor]

42nd of Ashan, 722

continued from here...

His unit's excited chatter flitted over his head, Russel's own foul mood making him sag behind the group slightly. It could've been the exhaustion, the entirety of his interaction with Yssera, or a combination of both, but the youth found himself trapped behind a veil of muddied thoughts while his fellows pressed on into the early morning.

He wasn't even sure how he was to begin this assignment, not that he entirely wanted to. Filching out secrets from mages he was only just beginning to bond with, the whole notion seemed anathema to how the Kandor was raised. Honesty was in his name. It was a cornerstone of his commune. He didn't see what Captain Kolt saw in him, some instinct or prediction for deceit. Frankly, the fact that she saw that potential in him at all set him down a spiral of second-guesses and self-doubt he' rather not travel down.

Saying yes to the assignment was one thing, getting it done would be another beast entirely.

"Let me guess, no sleep last night?" Bàs' voice interrupted his dark musing with a low rumble, like thunder shaking the storm free from melancholic clouds. Russel couldn't stop the smirk which curled the edges of his mouth, a mirror for Bàs' own playful grin. The necromancer always had a funny way of reminding him that life existed other places than just in his head.

"W-what gave it away, m-my cheery d-disposition?"

A small chuckle slipped from his lips, a sound that beat back Russel's lingering ruminations like a candle illuminating darkness. "No, you always forget your perfume when you're exhausted."

Whatever joy was blooming in Russel's chest was quickly replaced by dread. He had been so rapt in curiosity and frustration, he had forgotten his morning ritual. The death-scent which clung to his curse would be on full display to any enterprising nostrils. Embarrassment was quick to climb into Russel's cheeks. It was bad enough that he had to look like a walking corpse, but now he had to smell like one too?

"S-sorry-"

"Nothing to apologize for," Bàs interrupted quickly, giving his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "It's part of your, uh, 'condition', right? Not like you can control it. Here," he rummaged through a side pack attached to his day clothes. "I started carrying extras when I noticed it bothered you."

Bàs' copper-toned hands grasped Russe'l rose-tinted ones, placing a small vial of perfume in them. Russel's hands started to move from the contact once he had the vial, but Bàs' hands lingered for a moment. The Aukari's eyes, so full of life, met Russel's own.

"Though, not all of us mind the smell of death." Bàs winked, his bright eyes flickering green with necromantic magic. With a wink, the young man slipped his hand free from Russel's, moving to catch up with the rest of the unit. Russel stood, unmoving while his mind worked to catch up with the moment.

Oh.

OH.

The tender, rose-pink blush that tinged his cheeks now bloomed across his face and neck. He supposed this was what Yssera was talking about, people being willing to open up to him. To trust him quickly, and feel safe talking to him. He also supposed that counted as one of the secrets he was to discover amidst his unit.

His mouth quirked at a crooked angle, his eyes drifting back towards Bàs and his feet moving to catch up. Perhaps this day wouldn't be so dreadful after all. Perhaps there was fun to be had in chasing down rumors, especially among friends.

[Russel Kandor]

As the breaks ticked on, so did the secrets slip through his fellows lips and land securely on Russel's attentive ear.

Fennel was the first to confide in him after Bàs. Russel always enjoyed Fennel's company, as sparse as he had known the human. She was grounded in a way most mages weren't. She never forgot her roots, and in that way had won Russel's respect just by being her.

The pair were shopping together, the rest of their unit off in other directions within the marketplace; hunting for different deals or components on a rare day off of training. It erupted out of an idle conversation, each sharing what the other hoped the end of the cycle would bring. How soon they thought they would be made Stalwart. The type of missions they would all be sent on once they proved their mettle. If they would all be staying together after promotion. What kind of mage she wanted to be.

"Honestly Russel," she started, then stopped. She curled a finger around a loose strand of her hair, the Defiar's dust which clung to it spreading as the thought stalled her speech. "Sometimes I think you've got the right of it. Waiting to see what kind of Mage you want to be. Waiting to see if you even want to be. Don't get me wrong, I love who I am and who I've become. It's just," another pause stilled her tongue, the unspoken words hanging heavy. "Sometimes it's all just too much. The elements, I can always feel them around me. Calling me, begging me to dance. It's like having four younger siblings all desperate to become your favorite. It's exhausting. I grew up an only child. Sometimes I just want to go back to that. It'd be nice to be the only one in my head for awhile."

[Russel Kandor]

Avaline's confession came in a roundabout way, sneaking into their discussion once Fennel and Russel caught back up with the main group.

It was about mid-trial at this point, both of Idalos' suns now burning bright in the air. Bàs and Fennel had got it into their heads that the trial would not be won without a trip to the sparring pits, a common destination for the more hotblooded of their unit to work off extra energy. Rala had been press-ganged into refereeing, a position that the qi'ora often found themself in due to their even temperament; not that Russel thought they minded much. Given the amount of showboating Fennel was doing for the qi'ora, the youth suspected that he and Bàs weren't the only pair discovering what putting young, driven, fit people in close proximity for a cycle could result in.

"Who do you think has it?" Avaline whispered, perched on a fence a good distance away from the brewing brawl. Russel had take a post next to her, leaning on it for support.

"M-my bet's on B-Bàs," Russel replied, a small smile gracing his lips. He idly fingered the vial of perfume that he still had palmed away. Ava chuckled slightly, before giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you would. My bet's on him too," she paused, seeming to take some small delight as she watched anxiety briefly flare across Russel's face. "For less biased reasons, though. Relax. He's got better form. Fennel's too erratic and too preoccupied with making a show for Rala."

"They h-haven't st-started fighting yet, h-how can you t-tell?"

Ava took a second, watching the pair in the sparring circle size each other up. She pointed, suddenly. "There. Right there. See how Fennel's eyes moved away from Bàs? She's checking for Rala's reaction. She's too concerned with how the fight will look rather than how the fight will be won. She's already lost, she just doesn't know it yet."

Russel's eyes followed Ava's finger, and sure enough, for the slightest moment Fennel's eyes shifted away from her opponent and towards Rala. He was surprised Ava could notice a shift that small, and surprised even further when her prediction came true. Bàs didn't hesitate to capitalize on the distraction, and when the fight began in full, the aukari thoroughly trounced his human compatriot. Russel whooped in support of his friend's victory, but turned his attention back towards Ava as the three privates set up for another round of sparring.

"Y-you've got g-good eyes f-for stuff like th-this," Russel noted, his tone slightly probing but absent of a full question.

"Yeah, I do," Ava replied back simply, her confidence absent of the anxiety that tended to plague younger recruits.

"H-how'd you g-get g-good at it?" Russel inquired, pressing the topic slightly. Ava always seemed a little guarded and a little too well-managed. He wondered if this was an inroad to what laid behind her impressive social walls.

Ava laughed at this, brief and bitter. "Sorry, not laughing at that. It's just," she paused again, this time without her prior sense of play. "You had it easy till recently didn't you?"

He furrowed his brows in response, confused about how the conversation turned back towards him. Then, he dropped his defensiveness, and he thought about it. Ava had the right of it. Up until his enlistment and his curse, he did have a pretty easy life. He was well-provided for, and well loved by his family and his clan. "Y-yeah, you're n-not wrong."

"No, I'm not," she replied easily, that self-same confidence settling into a dour expression. She touched a bead that was braided into her thick locks. "I never had it easy, so I had to get very good at sizing people up very quickly."

A tense silence fell over them, poisoning the once carefree air with a sense of unease. The pair watched Bàs and Fennel spar for a moment, this round seeming a bit closer than the last before Bàs ultimately pulled out another win.

"I-I'm sorry," Russel started. "That l-life hasn't b-been easy."

"Me too. But hey, a trauma teaches lessons like no other. Blackbrine made sure I knew that before it spat me out," She stated with a grim humor. "Not a silver lining, but at least a lesser hell."

Blackbrine? He had no idea that's where Ava heralded from. A small wall breached, but a wall nonetheless.

Russel grew a dark smirk to match hers. "H-here's to lesser hells."

[Russel Kandor]

It took until dusk for Russel to find a moment alone with Rala, the last of his unit whom he had so far failed to glean any secret, revelation, or closeness with. The rest of their unit had elected to take their excursion deeper into the city and take in the night life. Rala had elected to head back to the barracks, and Russel offered to walk back with her. She didn't accept his offer by any means, but neither did she make a move to stop when he stepped in line after her.

They had always proved the most inscrutable among the young privates he had transferred into. A qi'ora in the Imperial Army, if Russel had to guess her walls were a result of the Hotland Wars. The entirety of the Empire had been mobilized to conquer the merchant state of Nashaki, the racial homeland of the qi'ora, and Russel couldn't imagine her time in the Mage Corps had been easy even after a truce had formed between the two nations. In fact, he couldn't figure a reason why a qi'ora would enlist in the Army at all, given their race's preclusion to neutrality.

He supposed now would be as good a time to find out as any. That bit of history would certainly fit within the parameters of his assignment.

As soon as he opened his mouth to inquire, Rala turned and leveled a sour gaze at him.

"Don't bother," they interrupted, the half-formed words still stuck on Russel's lips. An odd look quirked to life on the younger man's face, confusion plain in the lingering rays of light as day shifted to night.

"W-wha-"

"Seriously. Don't bother. I don't know why Kolt has you interrogating our unit, but I'm not interested." Theykept her tone level, but there was an anger flickering behind their eyes. In the time that Russel had known Rala, anger was not an emotion that seemed to come easy to here. Perhaps it would be best to walk back the issue, deny the accusation blazing in her gaze.

"I-I'm not in-interrogating anyone. C-captain K-kolt didn't p-put me up to anything," Russel stammered out, feeling his shoulders raise with alarm. He hadn't prepared for anyone to take issue with his questions, and he certainly didn't like being backed into a confession line this.

"Interesting. So, after trials of avoiding us, you're suddenly trying to get time alone with every single member of the unit? You just happened to have a conversation with Kolt before heading out with us today?" They took a step towards him, all the time keeping their voice even and flat. Somehow, that just worried Russel more.

"R-rala I'm not d-doing any of th-that. I haven't b-been avoiding anyone." The lie felt heavy on his tongue, unnatural and unwieldy. He did not feel he was very good at this.

They held his gaze for a moment, searching for something in Russel's spinning vision. She took a step back, and the anger that was burning behind her gaze simmered back down to an ember. Lesser, but not gone completely.

"You're not very good at this. Tell Kolt whatever game she's playing, I have no interest in being used for anyone's development except my own."

Without another word, Rala spun away from Russel and stepped further towards the Barracks. He could hear her heels clip against the stone of the city for bits afterwords, until they too finally faded into silence. Alone for the first time this trial, Russel took several breaths to steady his nerves after that confrontation.

"Honessstly, three out of four isss not bad at all."

Russel nearly jumped out of his skin as a pair of serpentine eyes shined in the fleeting light. From behind a unmade merchant's stall stepped out the shadowy figure of Captain Yssera Kolt. And from the bemused smirk that curled on her face, Russel imagined she had seen the entirety of that last conversation.

With a groan, Russel moved towards his mentor to report his findings and failure.

[Russel Kandor]

"Ssso, what did we learn?" Yssera's tone was equal parts mocking and inquisitive. She had been observing some part of his day with his unit, that much was clear to Russel now. Why she wanted him to repeat by route what had happened today seemed unclear to the youth, but he was sure she would reveal the lesson in time.

"R-rala is sh-sharp enough to n-note my ch-change in behavior. Outside of th-that, I didn't get anything f-f-from them" Russel started, listing the interaction he was sure she had seen. In this way, he might gauge what she was looking for.

"Ssso, what doesss this tell uss about Rala?" Yssera pressed, guiding Russel to the answer without giving it to him.

He thought for a moment, confused as to what meaning could be drawn from their terse and brief interaction. A full bit ticked by, before Russel shrugged with exasperation. "I d-don't know. Th-that th-they've been watching m-me? Since we've m-met, they've b-been clocking my b-behavior?"

"Good!" Yssera exclaimed. "Rala hass alwayss kept an eye on you. Meaning she iss keeping a clossse eye on everyone. Meaning she iss the mosst sussspiciouss persson in your unit. Continue."

Russel eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't been able to draw that conclusion on his own, but he supposed it had merit. He also considered that this was the difference between a field agent and an officer, the ability to draw these connections between seemingly meaningless details.

"F-fennel is h-having a tough t-time with h-her elements. She says it's t-too crowded in h-her h-head right n-now," he offered, unsure of what was relevant about their conversation or not. "S-so I s-suppose if we ever w-were to s-spar, I'd try to get in her h-head? Add another v-voice to off-balance her?" Russel thought back to Fennel's sparring session with Bàs, and how she lost due to a wandering eye and a drifting focus. He'd bet a more active opponent would be able to more than capitalize on that issue, but use it to cripple her.

Captain Kolt nodded with satisfaction, and it scared Russel how quickly he was pleased by noting his friend's weakness. "Ava is a l-little like R-rala, tough t-to crack. High w-walls, but not s-so high that sh-she's closed off. She'd b-be good at th-this, she's g-good at p-picking up on s-someone's faults."

"And what doess that tell uss about her?"

Again, Russel shrugged. He knew there was something more there, but he didn't have the skill or the experience with people to note what could be gained from that piece of information.

"That she'ss inssecure about her own ssstrength. Anyone quick enough to find fault in otherss as a matter of habit hass their own demonss to deal with," Yssera offered. Russel's mind cast back to their shared moment, their cheers to "lesser hells". He wondered, for a moment, what devils could possibly stalk Ava's abyss. She was such a font of strength, it didn't seem altogether possible to Russel that she would have any insecurities about her abilities.

"What about Bàss?"

The way his friend's name slithered out of his mentor's mouth set Russel's hair on end. It was another question that she seemed to know the answer too, but Russel didn't want to give her the satisfaction. He had won that secret for himself, not for her lesson. "N-nothing to r-report."

"Russssel."

"I s-said there's n-nothing to r-report!" He shot back, his tone peaking with indignation. Yssera's eyes turned steely, boring into his own grey gaze. Russel cracked first. "It-s p-personal."

"Russsel," she hissed again; her tone soothing, but her eyes not softening for a second. "There iss nothing persssonal in this professsion. You cannot afford persssonal. Persssonal gets you killed."

His hand move up towards his neck, fingers grazing the choking vines that snaked and coiled under his skin. She wasn't wrong. He didn't like it, but she wasn't wrong.

"B-bàs implied f-feelings f-for me," he stated simply, coldly. It felt like a betrayal to even admit it to his superior officer. To tell anyone outside of his friends, outside of Bàs himself. "I c-could l-lean of those t-to get an ally, or twist th-them to l-lower his defenses."

He never would. Russel promised himself that he never would. All of this was an exercise, and experiment to make him realize how information could turn any interaction to his favor.

It was just an exercise. He swore. Just an experiment.

Yssera didn't push him for any further information, satisfied that the lesson she was pushing him towards had been grasped. They walked silently the rest of the way to the Barracks. Yssera parted at the entrance, leaving Russel to walk the rest of the way to his cot alone.

He did not sleep that night. He was too busy fighting against the part of him that felt powerful with all he learned this trial.