Chương 157: Day One Hundred And Fifty Six

Dear Diary, I keep saying I don't want to be the Bad Guy, but what does it mean when the worst, most entrenched Bad Guy I know of is nicer than me? Okay, so I spent yesterday working on how to incorporate Translocation and Co-Location into my fighting style. Say what you will about spending the day training, and training hard, but when we were done I stepped back to my room, tossed my uniform into the 'to be washed' pile, fell into bed and fell straight to sleep.

Like, without dinner, which I didn't realize until the following morning at breakfast. Same dream as always, although both the weird tadpole and the itching have stopped moving. Mostly I just spent the night looking for my mom in the sky. Which makes no goddamned sense, but there you go. Woke up to me in my bed, Marie just stretching in hers, and Isnomi snoring in her toddler bed. I copied Marie and had a good stretch before getting out of bed.

It was a little chilly; what with the room being right in the middle of all the others, I'm guessing it wasn't 'my pitcher of water will freeze overnight' cold, just 'rock hard nips' cold. Given that I'd be going out and standing at the top of a wall with almost no shelter from the wind, and had been doing that for the past few days? I judged it to be warm enough to say screw it and get moving. Marie and I both got dressed in companionable silence.

Once both of us were fully dressed, I turned to Marie and asked, "does Isnomi stay awake all day when she's with you?" She shook her head and said, "No." I nodded.

"Thanks. I just remembered something about little kids needing way more than eight hours. I'm guessing she just naps on top of the cart?" She shrugged and said, "Nurse." I thought about that for a second.

"Is that going to hurt her getting weaned onto solid foods?" She shook her head again, "No." At that point it was my turn to shrug and say, "I'm guessing you've got way more experience raising kids than Saffron or I." She smiled and said, "Yes."

"I'd say something like 'so long as she's healthy and has the right number of limbs and digits I'll be happy', but I'm half betting her number of limbs and digits is way more negotiable than normal." Marie's smile twisted into a wry expression as she said, "Yes." With that I lifted Isnomi out of her bed; by the time I had her up Marie had her little slacks ready to slip her legs into.

I mean, if she'd been cooperating it would have been slipping her legs into them, but it turned out more like wrestling her into them as she tried to stay curled into a little warm ball. After a few minutes of mild wrestling we managed to get her fully dressed, at which point Marie gathered a few spare blankets and made a little nest atop her cart, which the menace burrowed into until her nose and mouth were the only bits I could see. I gave her a quick kiss on the nose.

"Be good for Marie today, Menace." Then I turned to Marie, hopped up to put my arms around her neck and gave her a much less quick kiss.

"Thanks, Marie." She hugged me, then I dropped off and she left to go about her busy day of Marie things. I stepped out of the room and realized that while our room was maybe ten degrees cooler than the hallway, but since the hallway hovered somewhere around a crisp spring day, the room itself wasn't all that cold. It just felt that way coming out of a warm blanket nest. I still wanted to fix it, though. I went down to breakfast. When I got there, Bill asked, "where's Isnomi?"

"She wouldn't wake up this morning. Nothing bad, just toddler sleepies." Bill nodded.

"Sounds like she's going through a growth spurt." Angel nodded her agreement. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I sat there, mouth open, sausage halfway to it.

"Really?"

"Don't you have any younger siblings?" I shook my head.

"Nope. I'm the youngest." That got a round of laughter from the others. Not mocking or anything, just them reacting to my reaction. I guess I was happy about Isnomi being healthy and growing, but it seemed so sudden, like she'd been a rugby ball of appetite and poop just yesterday, and by tomorrow she'd be moving out to go to school on her own or some shit. Not literally, I hoped, but you get the point. When the Maids threatened to throw us out of the Hall, we all got up to go.

Testing something, I Translocated into the Boy's Infirmary. Lancaster lay there, kinda pale and soaked with sweat.

"How you feeling, Larry?" His eyes popped open.

"Diaz?"

"The one and only." He shook his head.

"Damn. I thought I was getting better, but now I'm hallucinating. Or dreaming. I really hope this isn't another sex dream." I let that go. Hell no I didn't.

"Ooh, do you get those special dreams now, Larry? Do they make you tingle? Do you wake up with messy sheets?" Hilariously, the sheet covering him tented a little at that as he said, "oh, fuck, not this one again." I couldn't help it, I lost it laughing. After a bit I managed to force out, "are you feeling well enough to join me on the wall today?" He pushed himself up onto his elbows, and if he got a little green around the gills when he did, I didn't comment on it when he said, "absolutely."

I hadn't heard him come in, but Doc DeLeon countered with, "no, you are not, Cadet Lancaster. Your fever just broke today. If you don't show any signs of relapse, then maybe you'll be fit for duty tomorrow, but more likely I'd say two more days of bedrest, just to be sure you don't wind up collapsing mid-watch." Larry flopped back onto his pillow, and looked better immediately.

"Thanks for the info, Doctor."

"Don't mention it, Cadet. Also, how did you get in here?" I grinned at him and said, "kind of like this," then stepped to Drivers'. I picked up breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then thought, hey Boss? Yes, Tabitha? Would Sigyn mind awfully if you joined me on the wall for the next two days? My normal watch and sparring partner is on sick leave until Thursday. After a short pause, he said, "I assume you'd like me to continue your Combat Translocation practice?"

I handed him one of Drivers' breakfast packets, and said, "Thanks, Boss. You're the best." He hadn't even paused before taking a bite, so he responded with, I know. We strolled from Driver's to the wall, taking our time and enjoying breakfast. Well, second breakfast for me, but so long as I don't start looking like a hobbit, I'm not going to worry about overeating. When we got to the wall, I did the same double Co-Location thing I'd done the day before, and we got back to practicing.

As we started sparring, I got curious about something, "are you sure we should be doing this on a full stomach?" He smiled.

"Deities don't upchuck, and for you it just counts as good training." I smiled back.

"Good to know." I'd love to say I Translocated behind him and bopped him on the head, but he beat me to it. When we stopped for lunch, I pinged Saffron. Hey, Kitten. How goes it? Hey, Goof. Things are a little tense. Marshall duBois and General Lancaster are bickering. That didn't bode well. About what? They're planning to set up a parley. Really?

Part of me got a little annoyed that whoever on the other side started all this shit would likely walk away scot free, but the part of me that wanted Saffron to be safe told the belligerent part to take several seats. Which of them is against the parley? Neither. They're discussing which of them will go out and set it up. Damn. Tough choice. The surprise clear in her voice, she thought, how so?

If the 'Damn Army gets a sudden rush of stupid and kills the messenger, losing the Marshall would disrupt the Army less, but it would also mean Lancaster would become the next Marshall. I do not want him having six votes in a council session. Then again, the Marshall's more likely to escape that kind of betrayal. Somehow she sent a smile through our mental link, look at you, all strategic. I'm so proud. I couldn't help but smile at that.

Yeah, it was a little condescending on her part, but part of me knew she was mostly joking, and the rest was reveling in the fact that she was proud of me. See if you can't weigh in on the side of the Marshall going. I don't like it, but he's the better choice. Oh, I already have. Well, I'm doing so now. You can carry on two different conversations at once? She replied with two thoughts so close together that they overlapped. Can't you? and Everyone else is so slow, two conversations at once isn't all that hard.

I just smiled with pride at that. Okay, stay safe, Kitten. I love you. You too, Goof. I love you. With that she was gone, and it was time to get back to sparring. By the end of the day I was absolutely worn out, but I'd started doing some of the more basic Combat Translocation things without thinking about it. I really hoped that the next time I'd use them was in Combat Training with duBois, but mostly I realized that things never go my way like that. Still.

My first thought on how to end the war fast was 'kill them all', and Big Poppa Lancaster's is, apparently, 'talk the enemy into submission'. I don't like how lime green that makes me sound, but lying to myself about it would just be a giant leap to lime green land.