Wish upon the Stars chapter 544

Callie and I woke up refreshed and energized. We'd been sleeping  under the equivalent of a lead blanket for the last week, and just the  sheer bliss of being able to breathe freely and easily was almost  intoxicating as we greeted the day. We had to be back to the camp for  the command tent meeting, which was thankfully after Revielle, so we  didn't need to go back a night early and could have breakfast with Cass  and Zeke, something we both enjoyed immensely.

"These  parfaits are amazing." I told Callie as I dug into the cup of smooth,  sweet yogurt, covered with granola, fresh fruit, and drizzled with  delicious honey. "So the command tent meeting is at ten, right?" She  paid more attention to that kind of thing than I did.

She  let out a blissful sigh as she took her last bite. "The blackberries are  so fresh it's crazy. This is so much better than the eggs and bacon  from the mess hall. It's not bad, but it gets so old after a while. I  wonder if we can have breakfast here every morning."

Zeke  took a long sip of his coffee as Cass ravaged a plate of pancakes with  strawberry syrup. "You totally should." She said through a stuffed  gullet. "We could eat breakfast and hang out and and it would be so much  fun."

"Cassidy." My uncle chided without looking over at her. "What did I say about talking with your mouth full?"

She  paused, thinking it over. "To make sure I'm eating something that was  pretty colors so people have something to look at? I am though, look my  pancakes are red." She stuck out her tongue, exposing her chewed food,  and I grimaced and looked away from the poor display of table manners.

Raising  an eyebrow as he read the paper (I hadn't known Saltzberg even HAD a  paper) he scoffed without looking. "And how many colors, might I ask, is  red?"

Slumping, the ten year old swallowed her food with a  pout. "Just one." Somehow that logic seemed unassailable to her, and  she sulkily started gorging on her food again as Callie looked at her in  confusion. I just chuckled, because I remembered similar conversations  with Zeke as a kid. My uncle was surprisingly good with children, to the  point that I wondered if he'd ever had any of his own.

That  was one question I had never asked. If Zeke had kids, he didn't see  them anymore, and I'd never heard him mention them. It was clearly  either a non issue or a painful subject, and I'd never been cruel enough  to bring it up in case it was the latter.

"I don't think  every morning will be possible." I said apologetically. "It's too far  from camp. We're already here, so we can make it since the trip is one  way. If we had to COME here and then go back we'd be too late getting to  the meetings, and we have to sleep in our new dorms except on weekends.  Even officers aren't exempt from that."

Callie sighed as  she stared longingly at her no finished parfait, but eventually pushed  out her chair. "We should probably get going then." She smirked at me  gleefully. "We can make it to the camp with plenty of time given how  quick we are, but showing up to our first command meeting at the last  second won't exactly make the best impression. If we're going to be  working with these people for the next four months it'll be best to make  a good impression."

"I'm kind of worried about commanding a century of soldiers." I admitted as I stood up and shrugged on my  coat. "Even with Camden's formations I'm scared I might get someone  killed."

Zeke gave me a comforting smile. "Oh, don't worry about that." I waited for him to continue, but he just sat there smiling.

"Because..."  I prompted. "I have a natural gift for command and will excel at being  in charge of an army so they'll all be fine?"

"No." He  said casually. "Because it's probably inevitable you'll get SOMEBODY  killed, so there's no real point in psyching yourself up about it." At  my glare, he just shrugged. "What? Do you know how many people manage  zero casualties in command of their first battle?" After a pause, he  prompted. "Well, do you? Because I have no idea, but I'm assuming the  number is low."

I briefly considered flipping him off, but  we had SOMEHOW managed to keep Cass from picking up the gesture despite  the frankly gratuitous use it saw in the house, and she was sitting  right here, so I just glared. "You are the literal opposite of helpful,  do you know that?"

"Nah." He said in a dismissive tone.  "I'm super helpful. You just can't recognize it yet. My amazing and  flawless teaching style flies right over your immature heads. You'll  look back on this time in your life for centuries, mining my every word  for nuggets of priceless wisdom. Appreciate your elders, foolish  children, for they will be gone too soon, and you will have no more  wells of experience and practical advice to mine."

I pointed at his face. "You've got whipped cream on your chin."

"I  know." He said spitefully as he wiped it off. "I was using it to  underline my point. You're too easily distracted by the superficial.  It'll spell your doom."

Callie sighed, pinching the bridge  of her nose. "Zeke, even Cass can tell you just made that nonsense up,  and she's TEN. Can we get going please? Because we have important places  to be, and I can feel myself getting dumbed just sitting here listening  to you two bicker about this."

"Good thing you don't need  to worry about that happening to Shane." My uncle said snarkily. "I  don't think he can get much dumber without his head literally  imploding."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Cass, sweetie. Cover your ears for a minute. I have a few things to say to-"

"Nope."  Callie grabbed me, dragging me away physically. "Not letting you get  sucked in. He's trying to bait you because he's bored. It's obvious. How  are you BOTH children when one of you is centuries old?" I couldn't  help it, I started laughing as she dragged me away.

Zeke  and I hadn't really teased each other much since this whole trip  started. Not like we had when I was a kid. Talking about my dad the  other day had been rough, but it seemed to have eased a tension with my  uncle I hadn't even realized was there. Zeke was one of the most  important people in my life, and since I found out about the geas, part  of me had always felt like he'd been forced to be there for me.

Knowing  he didn't hate my dad, despite my own anger at the man, it was a weight  off my shoulders. If he didn't hate dad for putting him under the geas,  then that meant he didn't feel burdened by it. Maybe I was reading too  much into things, but it felt like I was right to feel like that. Like  we were back to our old selves. Judging by the gleam of amusement in his eyes, Zeke felt that too, and I caught him shooting me a fond smile as I looked back.

Gripping  my hand, I turned to see Callie smiling at me. "I'm glad you're happy."  She said softly. "I hadn't even realized things were strained between  you."

I shook  my head. "They weren't really. It was just me being stupid. I pulled  away from Zeke because I didn't want to burden him more than I had to.  But it was a stupid way to look at things. He used to tell me 'Shane,  family means never having to say thank you. It also means being able to  say 'you're welcome' in a really passive aggressive voice when the other  person doesn't.' I guess I forgot that."

She  dissolved into giggles, and I cocked my head. "Sorry." She snorted  between laughs. "It's just, that sounds SO MUCH like Zeke. You too, now  that I think about it. I think you and Benny are a good example of that  concept in action."

"I  guess we are." I said with a laugh. "I can think of worse people to be  like. Zeke might not always be in the right, but he cares about the  people in his life." I trailed off, leaving any mention of my dad  unsaid, and the hand around mine squeezed a bit tighter in comfort.

We  walked in silence for the next five minutes or so, finally arriving at  the camp. I wanted to drop our stuff in our new barracks, but I didn't  know where it was, so we just headed for the building where the command  meeting would be. I wondered if Hamill would be there, or if he was  exempted for his training duties. Probably the latter given we'd seen  him every day last week.

"Halt."  Said a crisp voice. We both slid to a stop, turning to look at the  towering figure of a man who stepped from the shadows. I'd noticed him,  actually, but he'd been standing so still in full plate armor I thought  he was a statue. I wondered if that was an unusual stealth application,  of if he was just that easily overlooked. "Who goes there?"

Normally  I'd have given a sarcastic response, but we WERE new, so saying it once  didn't seem like it would be too out there. "Solomon and Nightstrike." I  said plainly. "Newly minted century commanders. Our promotions just  went through."

Reaching  up, the man removed his helmet, a cascade of crimson hair flowing down  his shoulders. There was a scar splitting his lip, neatly bisecting the  left side of his well kept goatee, and it made him look like he had a  permanent sneer. "Ah, the new bloods." He said in a dead sounding voice.  I couldn't tell if he approved of us or wanted to roast us over an open  flame with apples in our mouths.

"That's  us." I agreed. "So can we...like, go in?" I gestured past him at the  door he was blocking. "Don't want to be late for the meeting, do we?"

He blinked at me, cold blue eyes showing no emotion. "Lateness..." He trailed off. "Is unpleasant."

I  waited for him to continue talking, but he seemed to have finished,  stepping back to let us pass. "Right." I said slowly. "Big fan of  punctuality. Good to know. You have a name, big guy?"

"Charles."  He said succinctly. Real chatterbox, this one. Nodding to him, we  stepped past him as he replaced his helmet and resumed his perfectly  unmoving stance. I could see how we missed him before. He really did  seem to just vanish into stillness. Looking at him was like seeing a  statue. It was deeply unnerving now that I knew the person in that armor  could move and interact.

We  entered the command building, and everyone already there turned to look  at us. I saw Camden and Alister standing over a map table covered in  small models, and a group of E-rankers surrounding them. The other  commanders, from what Camden had said, were all non-noble Jobs, mostly  combat oriented. Barons didn't often work under other Barons, but other  E-rankers were available for hire.

Camden  looked up. "Ah, Solomon, Nightstrike. Lovely that you could join us. We  were just about to start." He gestured for us to step up to the table,  and we crowded around, staring down at...the tunnel he'd had me make. He  shot us a wink as he began filling the others in on his secret digging  crew and the months of work that went into its construction, and I had a  hard time not snickering as everyone started complimenting his  foresight. Finally, he finished up his explanation, and our first  meeting as commanders started in earnest.