Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

The hand stays on Kaelen’s shoulder.

For a moment, no one moves.

Then Garen Azurea steps into my field of vision.

"Easy, old friend."

Kaelen turns his face just enough to recognize him. The red gem in place of his left eye keeps spinning, but the Rank SS pressure begins to drop until the air in the room belongs to the rest of us again.

The way he accepts the touch catches my attention.

A man of that Rank, angry and ready to move, doesn’t let just anyone lay a hand on him. Garen didn’t ask permission, and Kaelen didn’t react on instinct.

They’ve done this before.

Then the name surfaces in my head.

’Tide of Every Morning.’

I knew Garen’s old squad from the trenches. What I didn’t know was every man who’d survived alongside him.

Kaelen turns his attention back to Joseph.

"Now that no one’s interrupting anyone, explain again what was happening here."

Joseph looks first at Garen, then at Kaelen. The smile returns slowly.

"This is starting to get curious. Two men with schedules that normally take weeks to earn a meeting show up in the same room the exact moment a conversation gets interesting."

His eyes come to me.

"Maybe I should learn something from Sands. Cornered people tend to find creative ways to ask for help when no one’s looking."

The golden gauntlet moves on the arm of the chair.

"Twenty minutes to recover nineteen points of OXI was a particularly long trip."

’Son of a bitch. He noticed.’

Not the whole sequence, maybe, but the excuse didn’t slip past him.

Garen takes his hand off Kaelen’s shoulder.

"If you think this is Dryden’s doing, you’re mistaken. I came looking for my old trench companion. I found Kaelen walking this way with his usual delicacy and decided to come along."

Kaelen shoots him a sideways look.

"Delicacy?"

"It was the most polite word I could find."

Kaelen ignores it.

"Garen owes you no explanations. I still want to know why someone from outside the Academy was raising OXI against one of my cadets."

Joseph lets out a discreet sigh, almost disappointed by the insistence.

"I was showing off my gauntlet."

Kaelen doesn’t answer.

Joseph lifts his left arm and turns the hand to show the blue core on the back.

"Sands was curious about the mechanism. The core compresses OXI before discharge and lets you release everything through a single outlet. It’s an old model, but very efficient once you learn to control the buildup."

Kaelen’s red gem moves from the gauntlet to me.

Joseph follows it.

"Isn’t that right, Sands?"

For a few seconds, I consider letting the fire spread.

I could describe exactly what he did.

Joseph pressed me toward a future entry into the Deepwarden and pointed that thing at my face when he didn’t get the answer he wanted. Kaelen was already angry. Garen knows who Joseph will become. One sentence from me would turn this room into a large problem.

The biggest problem is that I’d be living inside that problem too.

The Deepwarden would learn I refused formal interest. Valerius would enter the story early. Silver Fang could become a side target. Rae would be forced to pick a side before I finished pulling from him everything he could still offer.

I want to watch the circus catch fire.

I just don’t want to be inside the tent.

"Yes," I answer. "I was curious to understand how he built up the energy before firing."

Kaelen keeps watching me.

His human eye carries boredom. The gem doesn’t.

Garen also notices I chose my words carefully, but he doesn’t interfere.

Joseph opens a more comfortable smile.

"See? A misunderstanding."

"Of course," Kaelen answers.

The tone says he doesn’t believe a word.

Joseph takes the exit before anyone decides to close it.

He stands, adjusts the sleeve near the gauntlet, and looks only at Rae.

"We’ll continue our conversation another time."

Rae nods.

Joseph passes me without a goodbye. He offers nothing to Garen either. When he reaches Kaelen, he slows his step just enough to leave one last line.

"I imagine Valerius will want to pay a visit in the coming days, once I report how I was received today."

Kaelen’s aura erupts.

It lasts less than a second.

Even so, the blow enters my body like an invisible wall.

My HUD flickers.

[OXI: 4,996 → 4,820 / 5,000]

The interface locks right after.

[SYSTEM LOCK]

I can’t open the inventory.

The skill options vanish.

Even the small communicator indicator freezes.

Kaelen didn’t attack me.

I wasn’t even the target.

The simple release of OXI tore almost a hundred and eighty points out of me and temporarily blocked my interface.

Joseph stops where he stands.

The smile disappears. His pale eyes widen, and for a few instants even the arm protected by the gauntlet stays still at his side.

Kaelen turns his face slowly.

"I’ll receive Valerius with pleasure."

The red gem spins at a speed I haven’t seen before.

"If he wants to talk about what happened here, tell him to come in person."

Joseph stays where he is until the residual weight fades.

When he recovers his movement, he opens the door and leaves without another word. I hear something muttered in the corridor, but the distance and the closing door erase the rest.

The room goes quiet.

Kaelen waits a few seconds before looking at Rae.

"Why did you bring Joseph into my Academy?"

Rae has already recovered his composure.

It’s impressive.

A few minutes earlier, a Rank SS nearly turned his meeting into an institutional dispute with the Deepwarden. Even so, when he answers, his voice is steady and organized.

"Business. Joseph has access to supply chains that could ease some of the LDP’s bottlenecks. We were discussing suppliers, distribution, and possible future cooperation."

Kaelen jerks his chin toward the chair where Joseph had been.

"Was that part of the business too?"

Rae hesitates only as long as it takes to build the lie.

"Joseph dropped out of formal mode for a few moments. He has a peculiar personality and likes to test reactions. There was no real intent to hurt Sands."

I could end this.

I’d only have to open my mouth.

Instead, I look at Rae.

"Are you sure that’s the version you want to use?"

He turns his eyes to me.

For a small instant, the political mask slips. Not fear. Calculation.

Rae understands exactly what I’ve just offered.

The chance to keep lying.

"Is there a problem with what I said?"

I hold his gaze for a few seconds.

"None."

Kaelen looks from Rae to me.

If he registers what just happened, he doesn’t show it.

Rae certainly does.

Now he knows I could have buried the entire meeting and chose not to.

I don’t need to collect on that today.

Favors age better when the other person doesn’t know when they’ll be called in.

Kaelen breathes out through his nose.

"Sands. Come with me."

"Where to?"

"My office."

It doesn’t sound like an invitation.

I stand.

The system starts responding again as we leave. The interfaces reappear little by little, but my OXI stays at 4,820.

Garen comes along.

Kaelen shoots him a look in the corridor.

"You too?"

"After what I just saw? Of course."

We move through the administrative corridors toward the main directorate sector.

Garen slows his step until he’s beside me.

"Are you all right?"

"I am."

"Joseph pointed a Rank A weapon at your head."

"I was there for it."

Garen frowns.

"Don’t joke about that."

I look at him.

The worry on his face is real.

"You need to worry about yourself. The wolves are close now."

Garen doesn’t answer right away.

We pass two instructors who recognize Kaelen and get out of the way almost by reflex. Only after we leave them behind does Garen speak again.

"That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

My attention shifts.

"What happened?"

"I found something out."

He glances quickly at Kaelen, walking a few steps ahead.

"And I made a decision, too. Depending on what you say once I explain everything, it could decide what happens over the next two years."

Two years.

The window needs no explanation for me.

It’s more than enough time to change a kingdom.

It’s also exactly the kind of interval in which men like Garen die.

"Does it have to do with the Tide?"

"It has to do with everything around the project."

That doesn’t help my peace of mind.

Garen keeps his voice low.

"I spent the last few days going back over some things after what you told me. People. Contracts. Movements I’d never have looked at twice before. A few pieces started showing up where they shouldn’t."

I look at him.

"Joseph?"

"Not only Joseph."

Kaelen slows his step ahead of us.

I assume he’s annoyed at the conversation happening behind his back.

Then he turns.

And he smiles.

It isn’t the permanent sneer left by the scar.

I already know how that one looks.

The other side of the mouth follows this time.

The right eye loses its boredom, and for a brief moment the old warlord inside the administrative robes looks genuinely pleased.

"I can’t wait to be part of this."

Garen answers with a small smile, as if that reaction were perfectly normal.

To me, it isn’t.

I just watched Kaelen threaten a Deepwarden representative without raising his voice, treat Valerius like someone who could simply drop by for a chat, and tear OXI out of a Rank C just by releasing his presence.

That man doesn’t seem like someone who gets excited easily.

Now he walks beside Garen with the expression of a man who’s just been invited back into an old war.

I keep following the two of them down the corridor, trying to fit that shift into the memories I brought back with me.

I knew Garen’s death. I knew Joseph, the future of the Deepwarden, and most of the pieces that were supposed to move over the next two years.

But I never saw Kaelen enter this story like this.

And from the way the two veterans walk ahead of me, something is already being prepared long before I find out what it is.