"Holy shit," Zen uttered, a surprised laugh escaping him. "We're graduating!"
Sun and Nick were on their feet as soon as they absorbed the words, hugging each other over the bed while gently pulling Zen in as much as they could. Their three way hug didn't last too long as they went back to their papers to actually read what they were supposed to do next.
There was the congratulatory 'you've been selected' part, and then the next page was something of an application. They had to list their strengths and their weaknesses, which division they were applying for and why they felt they would be a fit there. Except for Nick, he didn't have that. He was being promoted right to a tiered position in the Eleventh – Reserves and Support under Commander Elisavet Tolide. It was one of the few divisions they had an open space.
"How do you feel about that?" Sun asked cautiously.
"It's fine, Sunny," he gave a smile. "I already knew I wouldn't be choosing my division. And word is Commander Tolide is amazing. I mean, all the Commanders are, but she's up there, on par with your brother, or pretty close to it, so I've heard."
Commanders were the best of the best, capable of power and feats the rest of them could only imagine. That didn't stop people from striving for it. In the Academy speculation ran rampant about who was the strongest, though obviously it was the Captain Commander, but who came second was up for debate. It was difficult to know since they didn't really compete against each other. She had only seen her brother in action, and even then it didn't look like what she had seen had required any effort on his part because he was pulling his strength back given his opponent was her.
"Which divisions are you guys going to pick?" Nick asked, sitting back down in his chair.
"I'm aiming for Two," Zen replied. The combat squad. That was a good choice for him since he lacked other abilities and loved to fight. "They have the best fighters; I think I could learn a lot from them."
"What about you, Sunny?" Nick asked.
"Division Eight," she replied.
"The patrol squad? Why?"
"Well, they get deployed all over the realm; it will be a great way to see the rest of the country. And when I went on my evaluation mission with Commander Mercer and Lieutenant Cage, I got along really well with them."
"You're deluded if you think your controlling arse of a brother will let you be deployed far away; those guys are sometimes gone for months at a time," Zen told her.
"He may be a noble, but I doubt he has the power to influence other divisions to that extent."
She figured he likely had some say, but after her evaluation mission, she didn't think it was as much as she'd initially thought.
Neither one of them looked convinced by her words but nodded anyway.
"So you're not trying out for your brothers squad?"
"Gods no," she replied.
"I thought things weren't so bad now."
"They're not, we get along fine. But in a work environment... I doubt I'd be able to function under the crushing pressure. Not to mention the whispers I'll probably get about nepotism. Besides, he might not even want me in his Division. Why put him in the position of having to reject me and me being offended by that?"
Also, if she spent too much time around him, he might figure out her less than sisterly affections for him, and she would rather die before letting that happen.
"Acceptable reasons, I suppose," Zen conceded. "But you could always just try and join his division to make his life more difficult."
She shot him a flat look for that. If she tried to make his life difficult, he could do the same, and he had the power and resources to do far worse than she could. Besides, she had no desire to make his life difficult anymore. They had come a long way.
"Why don't you join his division and make his life difficult?" She suggested.
"I did consider it. But I'd prefer the Second. Besides, I couldn't trust your brother not to make me 'disappear' if I piss him off too much."
A small part of her couldn't deny there was that possibility.
"All right," Nick said. "We better get to class. We only have a few more days of them."
"Seems like more reason to duck out of them," Zen told him.
"Yeah, that's a great first impression," Nick replied drily.
Sun leaned over and hugged Zen with her good arm before bidding him goodbye and heading back to the Academy with Nick.
Their letters had said to continue attending class until they had been assigned a division and to bear in mind that they may not be allocated to the division of their choosing. Not that Nick even got to choose. She hoped she would get into the Eighth though. The only problem with that though was that if she did get sent out for long periods of time, she would miss the boys. But they were likely all going to be seeing a lot less of each other given how busy they would be with their new duties.
A small voice in the back of her mind also pointed out she would miss Kalys as well. As much as she wanted to deny it, she'd only be lying to herself, and that was a pointless exercise. It wasn't hard to believe distance from him would be good for her, help her get her head on right so she could look at him as a brother and nothing more.
-
When she got back to the manor that evening after another visit to Zen, Mika was the first person she had encountered. It was the first time seeing her since Kalys had come clean about who and what she really was. Sun had snuck off too early this morning.
"Good afternoon, Sun," Mika greeted with a smile.
Sun returned it, a little hesitantly.
"What's wrong?"
"Kalys told me the truth about you," Sun replied softly.
"Ah, does that make you uncomfortable?"
"A little bit," Sun replied. "If your true job is protecting me, it just seems wrong to make you do... maid duties as well."
"Oh, I thought you might have been uncomfortable with the fact I kill people for a living," she said, clearly surprised.
"No, that's fine; a living's a living," Sun shrugged.
"Well, don't worry about it, your brother pays me more than enough to do both jobs. Honestly, this is a lot cushier than most of my jobs so don't worry about it."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely," she waved off Suns concern. "Besides, you don't treat me poorly and most things you prefer to do yourself anyway."
Sun conceded that point.
"Now, you should probably head to the dining room, I think your brother was a bit miffed you left before breakfast this morning."
Shit. Had it been rude to just leave? She had done this before; had it bothered him then too? There was a seed of dread forming in her stomach at the thought of having disappointed him. How annoying. When she first met him, she enjoyed his disappointment because it usually came out as irritation.
"Thanks, Mika," Sun said, heading to the dining room.
Kalys was already sitting there, though the food had yet to be served. He was drinking tea, hot enough the steam was still rising off it. He looked up at her entry.
For some reason she felt like she should bow but resisted the urge. When she stood there like a bit of an idiot for a bit too long, he gestured for her to sit, a flash of concern in his gaze.
"Are you well, Sun?" He asked as she did as bid.
She nodded, eyeing him like she was waiting for a scolding.
"What?" He asked.
"Are you-" Using the word miffed probably wasn't the best idea. "Displeased I left early this morning?"
"I had thought we would continue your morning training sessions," he replied.
"Oh," she perked up; she hadn't thought he would want to now that they were back and he probably had a lot of work to catch up on. "Can we?"
He nodded. "I heard you received your letter today."
Now she nodded, pulling out the letter and sliding it across the table for him to see. He didn't pick it up, but he did spare it a glance.
"You haven't filled it out yet."
"No, not yet. I'll do it tonight."
"And will you be joining me in the solar after dinner?"
She knew he meant so they could return to their routine of reading the journal, so she nodded. She had actually missed doing that with him.
"Of course."
She felt the uncoiling of tension in her gut, their conversation thankfully relieving it. With their silence, the maids started serving dinner and all was right with the world.
For the most part.