All for us

For a split second, as she watched the General walk away, a blissful calm came over her. There was not a thought in her head but the notion that she had just successfully had a second positive interaction with the General. Was it pure luck that the General had been so kind to her or was the Goddess smiling down at her? 

Not quite smiling though. The General did seem rather short with her, so maybe the Goddess was ambivalent. Alder had started their conversation by informing her she was busy, maybe she really shouldn’t have bothered her at all. But she wasn’t unpleasant at all, it was probably how she normally treated cadets. She was foolish for thinking for a moment she was even somewhat special. Yes. Interrupting her was definitely a mistake. Not one to be repeated. Then again, does she need to apologize now? Another excuse to see her?

She didn’t realize she had been standing there in the middle of the pathway long after the General and the Biddies had disappeared from her view until she heard someone calling her name. Suddenly, everything came back to her and the spell was lifted. The conversations of the people around her crowded her space and she felt like everyone was looking at her. 

“Tally!” 

She spun around to see the not-so-happy expression Abigail held on her face. 

“What?”

Arms crossed, a scowl on her lips, Abigail shook her head. “What do you think you're doing?! Stop standing there like an idiot!” 

That spurred her legs into motion and she rejoined her unit mates where Raelle was still laying. She rubbed her hand along the back of her neck. “Sorry, I was just thinking…”

The fire in Abigail’s eyes did not dissipate. “Were you?! Because it is stunts like that that get people thrown out to the front lines! And if you go, we get dragged down with you! So think about someone other than yourself the next time you feel yourself getting ‘distracted’.” 

Tally rolled her eyes. “Okay…boss, whatever you say,” Tally said, annoyed at Abigail’s tone but not having the will to argue right now.

Abigail glared impatiently down at the blonde who had barely moved. “Raelle, it affects you too! Say something!”

The girl just waved her hand flippantly at them. “No Tally- don’t do that… oh that’s right…I don’t care. Do what you want. Leave me alone,” With that she rolled over turning her back to them. 

Smoke was practically coming out of Abigail's ears. “UGH! You are both hopeless!”

Tally watched Abigail storm off. Well, so things weren’t as great with her unit as she thought. Defeatedly she trudged away, leaving Raelle and Abigail to do what they wanted.

There wasn’t that much time before their next class so she headed off in that direction. 

Thankfully, her biddies had remained silent following that interaction with the Cadet. There was no need for the threatened conversation about their professionalism. Whether they truly had let it go or they were at the very least making it seem like it, not being ridiculed about it allowed the event to slip her mind. As open as her afternoon had been, she always had something to do to keep her busy. After the meetings she had scheduled in the evening, she would finally be able to retire for the night. 

At some point, her ability to find work for herself had to end, though. She had dismissed her biddies some time ago, but instead of going to bed, she remained in her office for some well-deserved peace and quiet while she pawed over a few documents. She should sleep soon.

Times weren’t exactly peaceful, but she also wasn’t at war. There was no battlefield. She needn’t burn the midnight oil keeping watch over the base, she had plenty of soldiers for that. If her biddies had been up still, surely they would have told her off and told her to sleep many hours ago. 

Better late than never. She relented and gave into the night, reflecting on the day as she returned to her quarters. 

It had been a fine day, nothing extremely bad nor extremely good happened. Nothing irregular even. Well, except for her conversation with Craven in the yard that afternoon. She paused for a moment. She shook her head as she thought about that moment, and to think she expected her biddies to be the ones to remind her of it.

It was irregular, though, yes. That didn’t make it inherently bad, but thinking about it, perhaps she could have been kinder. But why did she care, why did she need to spend any further brainpower on it? Because she didn’t hate it. She didn’t hate that the cadet had been on her mind and then presented herself to her again. No, if she was honest, she was grateful for the interruption. 

Her legs had seemed to slow as she walked, forcing her to replay the conversation with the cadet over and over far too many times before finally she made it to her quarters and made short work of getting ready for bed. As she lay down, the images of the conversation were the last on her mind. She just didn’t understand why.

By the end of the day, there was not much motivation to return to her barracks, though she was quite looking forward to sleeping. Training left her legs sore and she was ready to lay down. Only moments after entering the space she shared with her unit, she noted that the third one wasn’t there, it was just her and Glory. Glory was seated on the edge of her bed typing furiously into her laptop. 

She cleared her throat, evidently, Glory hadn’t yet noticed her. Instantly at the auditory intrusion, Glory slammed the laptop closed and a slightly disconcerted look swept across her face. 

“Uh-okay, sorry to disturb whatever it was you were doing,” 

“Nothing. no, I wasn’t doing anything,” Glory responded hurriedly.

She rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Of course not.”

The other girl just shrugged. 

“Right well, if you aren’t busy, I wanted to ask you about earlier.” 

With a tilt of her head, Glory was definitely intrigued. “When?”

“When we were outside. I’m pretty sure we both saw the same thing. How much do you know about that red-haired girl?” She asked casually. “And…how much do you want to bet that her antics are going to get her discharged before the end of basic?” 

Gory looked uneasy. “I do know her, pretty well, kind of. She’s more of a teacher’s pet than a troublemaker, I just didn’t expect the General to encourage it like she was clearly doing.”

Her eyes widened marginally to hear that. “Interesting. You think the General encouraged it?”

Glory just about laughed. “Psssh. You did see her face, right? Besides, I’m sure not just anyone could get away with interrupting her like that. It takes a certain kind of person that is hard to be mad at. Tally is that kind of person.”

She thought for a moment. “Hmm. Well, since we were both apparently…mildly…invested in this, let me know if you see them interact again, I am curious if the General really is encouraging her or just tolerating her.”

The other girl just looked at her curiously. “And why are you so interested?”

“I’m bored, besides, like you said, the General isn’t known for suffering the likes of first-year cadets. It’s interesting, I guess. But then again, I could ask you the same thing.”  

"Same," Answered Glory too quickly. She wondered what was going on in the other girl’s head but she didn’t press her on it. 

Two days later and Tally felt like she was going to crawl out of her skin. There was no ridding herself of the feeling that she was just continuously digging herself into a hole with the General and she would never get out of it. 

Hands balled into fists, she was trying to force herself to concentrate on practicing her windshear. Raelle was standing on the opposite side of the room, bouncing on the balls of her feet, a small flimsy stick in hand. Tally gave the slightest of nods and the blonde ran at her, stick raised. 

Through the open window, over the rain, and over the soft patter of Raelle’s footsteps on the concrete floor, she heard the General’s voice and she was helpless to the reflex to turn. The fact that Raelle was still barrelling toward her didn’t even register in her mind until the blonde had toppled into her and they both ended up in a heap on the floor. “Ow!” “Tally!” 

“What was that for?” Tally rubbed her elbow which had hit the ground a little hard. 

“What do you mean, “What was that for”, Tally? You wanted to practice your windshear. What were you doing?! What were you looking at?” Raelle glared at her and harshly sent the stick rattling across the floor.

“I thought I heard something?” Tally shrugged with a small smile, but Raelle was not amused. 

“You heard something. Well, that’s nice. Was it worth it? You’re lucky Abigail didn’t see how easily distractible you are. Tell me. What was so important or interesting or whatever?” 

They weren’t close. They spent time together, but she hardly saw her when they weren’t in formal training. Raelle had only agreed to this training session because it was raining outside and she didn’t want to sit in their barracks anymore. That was fine, Tally was just grateful for the company. She looked away. “I don’t know, it sounded like the General, it was just a reflex, I’m sorry,” 

“A reflex? Really? Can it be a reflex already? We’ve been here for like two weeks. I don’t think it can be a reflex that fast. Try again. Are you scared of her?” 

That opened it up for her to tell an easy lie. Everyone was scared of the General, she shouldn’t be any different. She thought it would have been obvious that she was, in fact, not afraid of her at all. Still she nodded. “Yes. That’s it. She makes me nervous.” 

Tally felt the narrowing of the blonde’s eyes like a personal attack on her soul as if Raelle didn’t believe her. The look passed though and a second later Raelle shrugged. “I don’t get what the big deal is. She hasn’t done anything to earn my respect yet, but whatever. To each their own.” 

Tally’s jaw dropped and she couldn’t help herself. “Are you kidding?! She hasn’t done anything?! How can you say that? She deserves the utmost respect for everything she has done,” Instantly she knew by Raelle’s expression that she was too quick to be that defensive. “I mean but like you said to each their own.” 

Raelle wasn’t going to let her out of that one, though. “Sorry, what? What is the matter with you?” 

Tally slid her hands over her face. “Nothing. I don’t know. I’m stressed about the other day when I interrupted the General and maybe coming off as disrespectful and…nevermind, you don’t want to hear about this, we can go back to training,” There was silence following. She just wanted to leave, but she felt a hand on her shoulder prompting her to look up.

“Tell me, I don’t know what you’re talking about but you might as well tell me now. I mean I’m here,” Raelle said quietly. 

Tally made an attempt at a brief explanation but her nervous overthinking turned into a full-on ramble that left Raelle looking a bit stunned by the end of it. “And that is why I jumped and got distracted when I heard her outside. I shouldn’t care, it shouldn’t be a big deal, but I just feel bad for bothering her and I don’t know. She probably doesn’t even remember. Or maybe she does, maybe she was upset about it, you know,” Raelle was just nodding along, listening. 

“Okay, okay, I think you need to take it down several notches. Everything is okay,” Raelle chuckled. “I can almost guarantee she did not think twice about it. She’s so busy, supposedly, running the army , or something. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” 

Tally felt frantic now. Going through it all had her worked up again. “Do you think I should apologize?! I could make an appointment this time.” 

Raelle full-on laughed at this, for what Tally was confident was one of the only times since arriving on base. “No! I think you’d be in the same position all over again and we’ll have this conversion again. As I said, it isn’t a big deal. I don’t think you did anything bad, let it go, move on. Doing anything or bringing any attention to it will only make it worse for you. Relax, she has so many cadets in her army, she doesn’t have time to obsess over an interaction with one of them. And if she does have time to hold any kind of grudge just for being interrupted on a walk, then clearly she has her priorities mixed up.” 

Tally released a sigh of relief. Strangely, that made her feel better. There was something in the back of her mind though that was saddened by the truth in those statements. Some small part of her did want to be on the General’s mind. She just didn’t understand why.

Sarah had a lot on her mind. She had more meetings since the number of attacks from the spree rose day by day. It frustrated her to no end. Not only because of the sheer volume but because there was too little she could do about it. Sending soldiers to eliminate the threat in multiple malls, stadiums and similar destinations across the country was one thing, bringing them back safely while minimizing civilian casualties, however, had not been too easy. The soldiers she deployed were exceptional, but the spree was ruthless and they did not shy away from killing those who stood in their way. 

Now, she sat in her office, a glass of her finest whiskey in hand. Amanda was generous with the amount, but Sarah wasn’t complaining, she needed this. The scent of it in the air and the smoothness of the cool amber liquid running down her throat was perfect. “Goddess, thank you, this was one of your better ideas.”

“I know,” Amanda agreed telephonically as she put the bottle back on the counter. “Sarah, I’m sorry, I know you’re exhausted and frankly, spent, but-”

Sarah knew what she was going to say, they shared the same mind after all, but she really didn’t need a fucking Bellwether in her office right now. “Fine,” She relented after looking Amanda in the eyes. It felt like she was being scolded by her look alone, but she did have a point. She braced herself because what on earth did Abigail Bellweather want? What was so important that it couldn’t wait another day? But the General didn't have a choice. Since she is the daughter of Sarah's head of intelligence, Petra Bellwether, she agreed to see her as a professional courtesy.

Amanda nodded once and warned “Be nice, she may be a Bellwether but this one is still a child, and I know you don't have any desire for more conflict with her mother,” while raising her eyebrows, waiting for Sarah to agree.

Sarah rolled her eyes while setting her glass down on the desk. “I’m always professional, am I not?” she quipped as she rose from her chair. Amanda snorted a laugh and Sarah could hear a faint “Yeah, right,” in the back of her mind spoken by Holly. She shot her a warning but amused look, which silenced the younger witch. At least for now, Sarah thought. “Send her in.”

Abigail was just like her mother. Sarah had great respect for General Bellwether, but they always had their differences. Every Bellwether she ever had the pleasure of knowing, apart from Gem and Gem's children, had this aura of entitlement and arrogance that surrounded them like a victory medal to be displayed proudly. She had no delusions that Petra's daughter would be any different. Sure enough, the arrogance and privilege radiating off her was palpable when she entered the room. 

Sarah was annoyed instantly and it was clear that this one, as well, thought she was better than others just because of her last name. The high Atlantic Bellwether name. 

"What's going on? What's on your mind? So many questions, what can I do for you?” Sarah asked. She had to be careful not to sound too annoyed already because she did not want to deal with any nonsense tonight.

"Thank you for seeing me," Bellwether said seriously, tempting Sarah to consider that this could actually be important.

Sarah eyed her for a moment before continuing. "You look troubled, child, talk." 

The Cadet seemed to brace herself but then released a breath and straightened herself out. "There's a girl in my unit-,” she began speaking and Sarah suspected what this was about before she even started the bulk of the complaining that was sure to follow.

"Ah, here we go," the General said under her breath, restraining herself from rolling her eyes. She heard a faint “Ugh, another one,” through the link from Danica and she couldn’t even be mad about the intrusion. Every other year or so, there was a Cadet, or perhaps more that weren't happy with their assigned unit. So this was where this conversation was going. 

“With all due respect, General, she doesn’t belong here," the child said and Sarah did not like this at all. Who was Bellwether to say someone did not belong in her army? Each and every witch in the United States of America belonged here, no exceptions. Anyone endowed with the work was a welcomed asset to the ranks. No matter their skill level or aptitude, there was a place for each and every one of them. She willed herself to stay calm, even though she had grown angrier with every word.

"What's her story?" She asked and suddenly froze when she heard Christina say “Uhm, General? Isn’t she in Craven's unit?” Because yes, she was in Craven's unit. Craven, Sarah repeated in her head, trying to stop herself from thinking about their last interaction. How did she not realize right when Abigail started talking? This fact made her even angrier, did she mean Craven or Collar?

"She came here without actually having to. She had a dispensation and seems to have some kind of death wish or something. She can't make the sounds, she can't sing the songs, to be candid, I wonder if this girl has the work in her at all, and don’t get me started on hand-to-hand combat,” The Cadet spoke with a tinge of anger and evident frustration and Sarah was positively fuming. Her jaw clenched and unclenched several times it almost hurt and it must’ve shown because Abigail shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. 

She did mean Craven, there was no mistaking that. And for a reason Sarah did not understand, she couldn’t bear anyone talking about the Cadet like that. 

Bellwether wasn’t finished, however. Too bold for her own fucking good, just like her mother. “As you know, we move up in units. It's possible her performance can keep me from attending war college."

Sarah braced herself, trying to sound nonchalant rather than absolutely furious. Cadet Craven was a great witch and even though Anacostia said there is much room for improvement for the three of them, Abigail didn’t have the right to speak about her like that. "Cadet Bellwether, I ask you this: What makes you think you can judge if someone belongs here?”

“Look, I just see no talent. I know it is not my place to say-”

“It certainly is not your place to say anything about this at all!" She growled.

“I-I’m sorry, General but I want to be reassigned," Neither Sarah nor the biddies could take this bullshit. Since Sarah needed to stay calm, her biddies expressed her displeasure instead. They hissed loudly at the Cadet and judging by her sudden stiffness and the look on her face, Bellweather hopefully knew that what she came here for was not acceptable.

Sarah enjoyed the shocked look on her face. She took her sweet time before she rose from her chair with her hands behind her back. “Your request is denied and you're lucky I don't call your mother about this. Now, get out of my sight!” Sarah said sharply with an echo from the biddies and with that, Abigail Bellweather jumped up and left her office. Fast.

“So sorry to hear your plans fell through,” Raelle spat angrily.

Tally didn’t really know what to say. The only thing on her mind was how the General thought of her now. Not only had she been self-conscious about her interrupting the General earlier this week already, but now this. If Abigail really said all those things about both of them, then whatever the General had thought of her was probably now tainted. Who wouldn’t trust a Bellwether, right? Tally knew Abigail’s mom was the head of intelligence and the General likely trusted her, so why wouldn’t she trust her daughter, even if she was being fed lies. “How could you?” 

Abigail rolled her eyes. “How could I? You mean you don’t understand? You two numbskulls are dragging me down with you. Raelle, with your inability to attend training regularly and generally giving zero shits about anything. And you, Tally with your incessant obsession with the General that will end up getting us all in trouble. Besides, your skills aren't exactly anything to write home about. Why not try to improve my situation?!” Tally would lie if she said that that didn't hurt. She was well aware of the fact that she wasn't the most powerful witch and her fighting skills were lacking too, but knowing it and someone saying it right to her face were two different things entirely.

“Because we are a unit!” She shrieked and felt the sting of hurt behind her eyes. She hated the fact that whenever she was angry, it almost always brought her to tears. It would be great to just let it out right now but she wouldn't give Abigail the satisfaction.

“Pshh. Relax, Tal,” Raelle put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “She didn’t get what she wanted. The General heard her whine and pout and then sent her on her way,” Raelle stepped toward Abigail. “I heard she barely raised her voice and you turned tail to run without a second thought, isn’t that right, brave brave Bellwether?”

Abigail stood there rooted to the spot, angrily looking at Realle. "That's bullshit, Collar and you know it. You'll see, I'll be reassigned in no time and will finally have some decent talent in my unit!"

Raelle took a step towards Abigail and for a split second Tally expected Raelle to punch her in the face. She considered intervening but she didn't. 

Raelle did stay dangerously close to Abigail though. She clearly had guts because Abigail was a lot taller than her. "Mhmm, yeah, probably. And if not, you could always run to mommy and she'll get it done," Tally looked from Raelle to Abigail and back at Raelle again, this time sure they would start throwing hands or worse work at each other any second, but after a long, furious look between them, Abigail lowly growled "Fuck Off, Collar," before turning to leave the room, ending this conversation. 

"Wow, okay, are you okay?" Tally asked Raelle.

"Yeah, ugh, I’m just tired of her bullshit. Entitled Bellweathers always think they get everything they want. I can't wait to see the look on her face when her request is denied," Raelle mumbled more to herself than to Tally, but Tally couldn't agree more. 

"You don't think the general will allow it?" 

Raelle sat down on her bed before kicking off her boots. "Listen, you know that I'm not Alder's biggest fan, but I'm sure she doesn't appreciate someone begging to change her decision."

"Her decision? Does she assign the units?" Tally asked with interest, never really having thought about that before.

"Yes, she does. I'll have to thank her for that one when I see her. Ha! Or you, the next time you see her! Since that for some reason happens a lot," Raelle joked and they both laughed, though Tally was a little uncomfortable with it, slightly blushing.

There was silence for a moment and Tally was unsure if she should ask the question that came to mind, but she couldn't help herself, even if she knew that Raelle might respond with something she wouldn't like at all. "So, do you think the General thinks we're bad now? I mean it sounds like Abigail basically said we're shit or rather that I am shit, so I don't want her to thi-"

Raelle snorted a laugh and playfully rolled her eyes " Relax ! I don't think she does. She has many flaws in my opinion but I don't think she takes other people's word for stuff, least of all that of a so obviously self-righteous first-year cadet. So don't worry, your girlfriend doesn't think you're bad!" Raelle said and laughed at her own joke.

"Girlfr- What? She's not my girlfriend, Rae! Why would you say that?" Tally was beyond shocked.

"Of course not! I'm just messing with you, Tal!" The blonde said, laughing even harder. 

Tally decided to take it as that, a joke, because that is exactly what a crazy lunatic idea like that was. A joke. 

The past two days were overwhelming. Sarah had been so busy the whole time and when she could rest, even just for a moment, her thoughts trailed off to a certain redheaded cadet. Well, not her in particular, obviously, but everything that Bellweather said just wouldn't leave her mind. How could she? How could she say such horrible things? It was probably one of the worst things you could say about a witch. "You don't belong here" or "You don't have the skill." Who was Bellwether to decide? No. That just wouldn't do.

Sarah didn't understand why this conversation stuck with her so much. There had been plenty of cadets in the past who did the same thing. Asking to be reassigned to another unit. She would always deny them and she wouldn't waste another moment thinking about it, but this time was different. She had no idea why she cared so much about this.

After another long day, when she finally sat in her chair with another glass of her favorite whiskey, she decided she would seek out Anacostia the next morning. She needed to speak with someone who knew the unit or rather the only one who knew them.

It was early in the morning when Sarah and her Biddies made their way across the base. She was determined to deal with the matter today. What she didn't understand was why she felt nervous about this. She would just go and speak to Anacostia, there's nothing special about that. Nothing out of the ordinary that would explain this strange feeling.

"Uhm, well… I have an idea why!" said Selina, but Sarah knew she didn't even want to hear what kind of nonsense she came up with. "I know you don't want to hear it but I think it has to do with your favorite Cadet!" The romantic of the bunch explained, with a mixture of caution as well as sassiness in her voice. 

"I do not have a favorite Cadet, Selina," Sarah replied because it was true. She never had favorites. Each and every witch was worth the same and she was the general of the United States Army, it would be unprofessional to play favorites.

"I don’t know, General, for the record I don't believe you for a second," Holly chimed in.

Sarah took a deep breath, trying not to be annoyed at the suggestion. "Craven is not my favorite, Holly! She's just like any other."

"Uhm, I didn’t even say her name and yet you assumed it was her. You realize that, right?"

Sarah's eyes widened slightly, why did she have to play right into their trap? She should know better by now. Turning around before scanning their surroundings, making sure no one was near, she intently looked at her biddies, leaving no room for doubt that this was serious. They were not to mention any of this again. "We talked about this, I do not have a favorite Cadet! I will not entertain this idea any further and I advise you to be finished with this topic. You will not bring this up again, am I making myself clear?" Sarah said sharply, not in the mood for more ridiculous accusations.

"Yes, general," the biddies said simultaneously and this time there were no further remarks or attempts to be funny about it, so Sarah knew that would finally be it.

"Good," she said sharply and turned around to continue walking to her destination, her daughter Anacostia.

"Sergeant Quartermaine!" Sarah called out as she spotted Anacostia at the entrance to the first-year barracks.

"General," she nodded as she walked down the front steps of the building toward her. "Everything okay? It's a rarity to see you here," said the drill sergeant and she wasn't wrong. Sarah rarely sought out this side of the base. Not for lack of interest, it's beautiful on this side of the base as well and she always loved to take a walk here and used to jog around the entire facility, but now sadly lacks the time to do so.

"Yes, I am alright, thank you, but I need to speak with you," Sarah spoke, gesturing for Anacostia to walk with her for a moment and she followed.

"Is it something serious? Shall we go to my office?"

"No, that's not necessary, besides, I could use some fresh air. Now to the point, do you happen to know that Private Bellwether showed up at my office yesterday?" asked Sarah, keeping her voice quiet.

Her daughter eyed her curiously and clearly confused. "About what?" 

"She wants to be assigned to another unit, can you believe that? These Bellwethers, they think they're above all others," Sarah cursed, and she knew she shouldn't be so upset about it, but she couldn't help herself. “The audacity.”

"I'm sorry, what ?" Anacostia barely reacted and Sarah had a hunch she wasn't that surprised by it.

"That doesn't seem to surprise you," Sarah surmised, pausing her step and turning to Anacostia. "Talk to me."

Her daughter sighed. "I am, and I'm not, to be honest. I'm surprised she had the guts to actually come to you that’s for sure. I've noticed the last few days she’s seemed agitated and I've never seen anyone roll their eyes as much as Bellwether. I'm surprised they're still intact," Anacostia explained, but Sarah wanted to know more.

"Agitated? Did she say something?" 

"No, but you know how ambitious they are. Bellweathers. Collar is kind of distracted, I don't know why, but her head is not in the exercises. And Craven, well..." said the Sergeant, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Yes, what about Craven?" asked Sarah, perhaps with a little too much force.

"Well, I think she's having a bit of a hard time. I'm sure she'll be an exceptional witch, Sarah but she needs training. She's incredibly determined, though, and gives it her all in the sessions," her daughter explained, and she knew it. Sarah knew that Craven was special and that she gave her best.

At that moment, the front door to the barracks opened, and out came Abigail Bellweather in a quick stride. Speak of the devil. As soon as she was down the steps, she froze when she saw Sarah. The cadet straightened up and nodded, but one could clearly see by the look on her face that she was not Sarah's biggest fan. Sarah didn't care in the least but nodded back respectfully. She was still the general and had to treat all cadets equally, but she could hardly hide her anger at Bellwether.

A few moments later, the door opened again and Sarah saw Private Collar and Private Craven, who presumably on purpose, kept a large distance from Bellwether. 

Sarah watched the two cautiously. Collar appeared disgruntled as was evident by the way she stomped down the concrete stairs. Craven on the other hand had her head down and didn't even see Sarah as they walked toward her.  When Collar saw Sarah, she stood at attention and pushed Craven to finally make her look up. She seemed to panic at first but then finally stood at attention as well. "General," the two said in unison.

"Cadets," Sarah replied, and for some reason, she kept looking at Craven the whole time. It pained her a little, though, because the Cadet seemed…embarrassed if she guessed correctly. Her gaze was cold and avoidant. Perhaps she thought Sarah agreed with Bellweather? Goddess, she would really like to give her a smile to reassure her that no, Sarah thought the exact opposite, but she couldn’t. There were too many people around and what was the point, really? It wasn’t like Craven would care. What was more curious to Sarah herself, was why she wanted to do it in the first place.

“General?” Anacostia said and she realized she had gotten entirely lost in her thoughts. 

“Carry on, Cadets,” she ordered and both Collar and Craven walked away. Sarah turned to Anacostia again “I apologize, please keep me in the loop about them. I have officially taken an interest. They have to come together and when they do, they will flourish as a unit,” Sarah turned around to see if the Cadets were out of sight and she could see them across the courtyard still trailing after Bellweather. If she squinted, she would have guessed Craven had turned around for a moment, but she brushed it off. 

Moments Prior…

Tally was still, her feet heavy like bricks, her eyes glued in the direction of the General. The General had been swift in redirecting her gaze, but what Tally had seen in that fraction of a moment when their eyes met was not good. Not good at all. Surely it was a disappointment she saw in the furrow of the General’s brow. It was unbearable. 

They were halfway through the courtyard on their way to class, which she was dreading when she felt a sharp elbow to her side. “Hey look who it is,” Glory whispered. 

Careful not to be too obvious, she glanced around until her eyes found the two souls in question. The General stood tall and stiff next to Drill Sergeant Anacostia Quartermaine, her gaze, however, was not on the sergeant. Following her line of sight, she too landed on Tally, just as she suspected. “Would you look at that. The General doesn’t look happy to see her though.” 

“I disagree. Happy, maybe not, but off guard. I think she wasn’t expecting to see her. Tally on the other hand…” 

“Upset?”

“No, scared. That is her worried face. She’s definitely overthinking,” Glory stated. “Come on, we can debate the theories of what happened between them later, we’re going to be late.”