STORMWEAVER II: Chapter 44 Sneak Peek (Patreon)

Slow chapter coming after the last few we've had, but they can't all be massive bombs haha.

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“There they are!”

Valera didn’t see who caught sight of them first, but the shout had every single head among the Galen’s group turning in their direction well before they reached the section. Managing it at last, however—and still ignoring the cacophony of the rest of the stands—Dent look back at Firesong.

“Find your seats. There’s still time before your match.”

The six first years all nodded—with the exception of Ward, how just gave a sort of grimace of acknowledgement—and started slowly up the stairs towards their aisle. Valera forced herself not to watch them get settled in, wanting to give the appearance of normality as best she good. It was a chore, mind you, what with her being the only chaperone left.

And the stands being all but on fire around them.

And Ward looking like he’d been hit by a bus…

Valera sighed internally, but addressed the three third-year squad leaders briefly.

“Thank you, you three. I’ll make sure to let your Colonel Dent and your sub-instructors know how helpful you were once we’re back at school. You can a seat.

The leaders of Dreadquest and Icewind nodded and saluted at once before doing as instructed, but not completely unexpectedly Lennon hesitated as he looked from her up to where Ward was fight to edge painfully along the aisle to a seat away from the stairs.

Probably smart, given that even as Valera watched one of the ISCM officers further up in the stands had to give two men firm orders to sit back down as they stood and looked about ready to make a break for the Galen’s group.

“Ma’am… With all due respect… What the hell is going on?” the Lasher asked of Valera quietly.

Another internal sigh.

“Not a question I can answer for you, Cadet,” she answered carefully, raising an eyebrow at him in warning. “At least not in the way you want.”

She’d been training Lennon personally several times a month for most of the last half-year or so—an easy price to pay for a rather large favor he’d paid her the previous semester—and the two of them were close, but there were still lines that couldn’t be crossed.

Lennon looked disappointed. “Is he good, at least? Ward?”

What do you think? Valera almost responded, but she bit her tongue at the last minute.

“Probably something you should ask him yourself, Lennon,” she answered more diplomatically. “I’m assuming you saw what happened, just like most anything else. I wonder if any of us would be ‘good’, don’t you?”

Lennon seemed to pale at the thought, then glanced once more at Ward before saluting Valera and moving to find his own seat among the rest of this Steelbound squad. When she was on her own before the students once more, she turned to them all.

“I will be brief,” she growled pointedly, raising her voice just enough for them all to hear over the shouts. “We do not have all the answers to your questions yet, so we will be answering none of them. And by ‘we’, I mean myself, Captain Takeshi, Cadet Ward, and Cadet Laurent.”

She paused to let that sink in, and Satō Yuji raised his hand from beside Candice Rice.

“Major Reese, ma’am?”

Valera blinked at him. “What about Major Reese, Satō?”

The boy looked abruptly nervous. “You didn’t mention him…? And he and Captain Takeshi passed us 10 minutes ago looking… rushed.”

“Oh. Right.” Valera decided she didn’t have the patience to play the diplomat in that moment. “Major Reese has been relieved of his duties as a chaperone for the remainder of this trip. Captain Takeshi is seeing him off, and will break returning shortly.”

A dozen mouths fell open in shock, including Satō’s, but Valera didn’t give anyone the opportunity to voice any followup questions.

“Each of you saw what happened. At this time we unfortunately do not have additional information to share with you at this time regarding the first-year finals OR—” she very pointedly glared at them all as she pressed her greater point “—Cadet Ward’s situation. You are not to hound Cadets Ward or Laurent—or any member of team Firesong, for that matter—on the topic. If they want to talk about it, they are at liberty to do so, but that is not your choice to make. Is that understood?”

To their credit, the students of Galens were on their game when they were on edge.

“Yes, ma’am,” came the answering chores from everyone except for Ward and his team.

“Good, now—” with a mix of effort and relief, Dent looked to Lennon, hoping against hope to inject just a little normalcy back into the afternoon “—what have we missed?”