No one quite knew when it happened. Nor how, honestly.
But the fact of the matter is that the Colonel had grown. As in, grown, shot up like a bean sprout, matching Grantz in height.
It is often forgotten by her comrades that Tanya is, as far as they’re aware, a teenager. And more, the effect of malnutrition from a young age – That false “God” likes to act so smug and powerful, yet the orphanages in his name and run by his people get by on breadcrumbs – had postponed her physical maturation.
Her attitude, ability, and oddly comprehensive understanding of the world and warfare is what led so many to consider her an intellectual equal, despite her small stature. Most of her colleagues simply viewed her as the White Silver, Aces of Aces, various other titles, Tanya… and her height was left politely unacknowledged.
But it seems like consistent meals, even if they were the ridiculously tough rations of a military frontline officer, had done her a world of good. And there’s something else to it, too.
What had it been? Right, “the army’s empirical evidence strongly suggested that mages matured early to begin with.”
Magic finds a way. It just so happened that it had finally caught up to her, is all.
There’s also evidence to suggest that mages live much longer than non-mages, and they age much more gracefully at that. Something to look forward too, Tanya imagines. As soon as she isn’t a member of the military, and as such can have her human rights stripped away from her at any inopportune moment.
Regardless, Tanya no longer was forced to stare up at everyone. Nor could they use her head as an armrest, which Neumann and Koenig had both done on separate dates.
They had regretted it severely, but on the bright side the two Company Commanders are now bonafide expert of experts on counter interrogation tactics.
All’s well that ends well.
The height is important, actually. Note the specificity; Tanya matched the current Grantz. That meant she had surpassed Visha, and easily at that, given that Grantz himself had gained a centimeter or two since he’d first joined the battalion.
Now, far be it for Visha to complain about such a thing. Honestly, the growth showed a level of health in her Commander that only had her feeling relief.
Unfortunately, that last statement is a lie, because Tanya's growth spurt had her feeling a much greater variety of things than merely "relief".
-=-
“Here you go, Viktoriya.” Grantz hands her a small stack of papers. “The patrol reports from First Company.”
Visha accepted them gratefully. “Thank you, this should be the last of them for this week.”
“I don’t envy the one that has to go over them. It’s not like anything happened, so they’re as dull as can be.”
“It’ll be a quick read for the Commander, then.”
“Hm, right.” Grantz nods, his sympathetic expression disappearing. “I guess she doesn’t need to pass them off anymore, now that our workload’s been reduced.” He laughs, “Though, I’m sure she would have breezed through them anyway.”
Visha giggles. “That’s true-”
“Oh?”
She freezes, an arm resting on her shoulder. A familiar voice is in her ear, then, as Tanya leans and looks over Visha’s shoulder.
“That’s the last of them, then?”
Tanya reaches around with her other arm, pulling them gently from Visha’s unmoving fingers. Her fingertips brush her adjutant’s knuckles in the process, and the poor girl’s face very nearly lights on fire.
Warm…
Visha has to resist the urge to lean into her superior, the faint scent of the Colonel’s cologne – a birthday gift from Weiss, actually – nearly sending her to another realm.
Then, it’s gone.
Visha blinks.
Huh?
“I’ll be in my office.” Tanya waves the stack of papers, glancing back over her shoulder as she leaves. “If you’ve got time for idle chatter, spend it however you like. As long as it isn’t disruptive or bad for the 203rd’s image, that is.”
She turns a corner, the sound of her booted footsteps on the tile slowly fading.
It is silent for a moment.
Grantz coughs into his fist. “Viktoriya… by any chance, are you…?”
Visha flushes angrily, “Shut up before I get my shovel.”
“Understood!”
-=-
“-sha. Visha.”
A light. The world coming back into focus.
What-?
The sky. That’s the sky above her, and there’s grass below her. She can feel press against the back of her uniform.
“Is she alright, Colonel?”
“She’s conscious, at least.”
Visha blinks, her vision a bit blurry. She tries to focus as the voices, and the slowly more defined blobs, turn to her. They’re people, she recognizes. Grantz and… who is that?
The voice is very familiar, but the shape is off. The hair…
One of the blobs leans down. They come mostly into focus, their hand hovering extended just above her.
A super handsome guy?!?! Do we have any of those in the 203rd??
Visha blinks rapidly.
“Really, the ground is no place for a nap, Lieutenant. Come on.”
A super handsome girl?!?!?
It’s Tanya, her Commander, she realizes in that moment. And, the other girl’s hair, it’s been chopped short?
Just around neck height, her Commander’s hair sways roughly. Like it’d been caught by a stray round or mage blade. A few strands were longer than the others, and the end length was tilted just a bit, practically confirming it.
Before she realizes it, her hand is in Tanya’s, and Visha is pulled firmly to her feet. The only problem is, now the two of them are in close proximity. And Visha isn’t looking down on her Commander, even though they’re both standing.
“There you go.” Tanya lets go of her hand, not noticing or not acknowledging the wide eye stare her adjutant is practically mooning over her with. She turns at just the right moment, too, looking to Grantz. “Go ahead and bring her to a medic. She looks well enough, but falling from the sky isn’t something we can laugh off anyway.”
Just the right moment, because Visha’s face floods with crimson. If swooning were a thing real people did, she would have then and there.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. If she fainted right now, her Colonel might just swoop in and-
?!?!C@?C>#?!!?CETGFWHDTYFTYRTQ#WERE@ASDFGGW?WC!!???!
Metaphorical steam shoots from her ears.
Across from her, Grantz’s expression can best be described as “done”.
-=-
The office is quiet. Fading sunlight bleeds through the open window, and the rustling of papers gives an official, boring air to the room.
Nothing exciting is happening here. It’s just paperwork.
Finished paperwork. Tanya’s is, at least.
She rises from her desk, resisting the urge to stretch unceremoniously.
At a side table near the middle of the room, Visha and Grantz work meticulously. Certainly, they’d improved their penmanship speed since entering her command, but they still had much to learn.
Well, to be fair, no one in the 203rd could match their Commander at her ability to do paperwork quickly. Such was the benefit to working in corporate once upon a time.
Still… they sure are working hard.
Tanya walks over, raising her arm. As she moves behind them, her hand falls, a single headpat landing on both Grantz and Visha’s heads in quick succession. Her finger trails under a longer strand of her adjutant’s hair as she passes, holding it up for but a moment before slipping away.
“Keep up the good work.” Is her simple response, as she moves to the office door. “I’m going to see if the crêpe stand is still open.”
Okay, to be perfectly honest, Grantz’s cheeks warmed a little too. But it was nothing compared to his fellow Lieutenant.
You’d think her ears were absolutely freezing, the way the tips of them burned.
-=-
The less said about the accidental kabedon incident, the better. Visha’s dignity would not stand up under the scrutiny of a retelling, and Grantz was embarrassed enough just seeing the event unfold.
-=-
“You want the truth? You’re killing your adjutant, you know. You’re killing her of embarrassment.” Grantz shoots her a deadpan look over the rim of his mug. He raises it to his lips, and just before taking a sip, says, “I can’t believe you haven’t realized it. The heat in her face is going to outstrip that of an enchanted shell’s explosion.”
Tanya hums, taking a sip from her own mug.
“I know.”
“Hm-” Grantz realizes what she said a moment later, and nearly chokes on his coffee. “Wha- what do you mean, you know?!”
A pause.
“…What kind of clueless idiot do you take me for?” Tanya’s tone is flat. She glances at him, eyebrow raised. “This isn’t some anime.”
“Anime…?”
“Ignore that.” Tanya waves her offhand, “There’s no chance I’d miss something so obvious, nor that I wouldn’t connect the dots. It’s simple scientific experimentation, testing cause and effect.”
“I- testing?” Grantz zeroes in on that, specifically. Quite frankly, he’s baffled, “Then, you’re flustering her on purpose?”
“I’m not sure what you could be referring to, Lieutenant. I’m merely acting in a manner befitting of two comrades that have grown close over years of conflict.” She shrugs, “The manner in which my adjutant reacts to this closeness is her own issue to manage. As her superior, it’s beyond me to offer anything besides this basic courtesy.”
Somewhat accurate translation: regardless of potential feelings on either side, as the higher-up in this scenario my hands are tied. Tanya has no intention of facing abuse of power accusations, after all.
But, if Visha were the pursuer, well…
Grantz is one of the few people who actually understand Tanya’s true meaning. Most of the time, at least. There’s a reason he and Tanya are here right now, drinking coffee and conversing. It’s a little ritual of theirs, exchanging info and – Tanya would never admit it – gossip.
He’s a prime example of a valuable human resource; this is clear from how accurately he parses her statement.
“…You know, I’ve thought this since we first met, but you’re kind of scary, Colonel.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”