Equestria's Ray of Hope

by The_Darker_Fonts

Rainfall

In spite of Ray’s fears, history did not repeat itself, and the following month passed calmly. There were moments, even, when he forgot why he was in the Tauran plains of all places, thinking of Equestria and his friends there. The languid passing of time was alleviating, and unlike during the first months of the war, there was no building stress over not taking action. It wasn’t because they were growing lazy or reluctant, nor were they allowing the burden of war to consume them. The results of the battles had given them the confidence to relax when they could, knowing that even though defeat was still a possibility, they also could win.

Most of the month had been spent slowly planning their next move, waiting for the weather to return to just blistering instead of scorching. They needed a little more information before the plan could be finalized, but the weather had begun dropping rapidly. When before it would consistently reach the mid-fifties by midday, by the last week of the month, it was now only reaching the low forties, about where it would mellow out and stay consistent. If what they had experienced when they had first arrived was anything to go by, then they would reach their lowest temperatures about two months from now, or by the tenth month of the war.

Kraven’s focus had been solely on the weather and the strange effect it had on the land, attempting over and over again to write weather charts and predictions. Where he had received the knowledge to do that, not even Skalos knew, but he had been correct by a margin of two degrees every single day of the month. He was still attempting to understand the wind patterns, complicated by their static state at the moment and the ocean wind currents, but Ray had no doubt the intelligent stallion would come to a conclusion when given the information he needed. The information could easily prove itself useful, marching into the wind and allowing their dust trail to scatter and dissipate, hiding their movements.

However, there had been one event neither Kraven nor any of the other Fallen participating in his weather project could have predicted. Two days ago, a wave of big, puffy white clouds had suddenly been blown in from the west. It was the first time the Fallen had seen such clouds since they had surfaced in Equestria, and was the first natural shade given to them. It was such an event that the generals and him had all come to an agreement that the army was relieved for the day to enjoy the weather. The spiderlings spent much of the day blanketing the nearest hills and exploring the locations, thanks to temperatures dropping to the mid thirties in the shade. It was still hot, but just cool enough outside that activities could occur outside of the shade or ocean.

Those two days of massive formations of cloud passing overhead gave the army the biggest morale boost Ray had ever seen. The cooler temperatures, relief from the sun, and increased activity had naturally invigorated the army. Some asked why the army wasn’t moving out and taking advantage while the weather was amicable, but most were content with remaining while they enjoyed the calm. In truth, Ray wanted to move the army out and further into the interior with the dramatic change in weather, but Skalos and Kraven had talked him into waiting for the return of spiderling scouts.

The Matriarch had sent them out at the beginning of last month, and they were supposed to return sometime this week before Ray returned to Equestria. However, with three days left and the Matriarch silent on where her children might be, he was growing doubtful they would make it on time.

That concern was compounded by yet another shift in the weather. That morning, just after sunrise, the sky had darkened and it had begun raining. It wasn’t a hard rain or steady downpour, more of a sporadic drizzle here and there, but remained consistent. At first, it was an exciting endeavor, warm freshwater falling from the sky and giving them even greater relief from the normally sweltering sun. However, after three and a half hours of on and off rain, the camp was beginning to flood. The hard ground didn’t seep up the water and there was no drainage from the camp into any of the surrounding valleys, given it was one of the lowest. The more eastern wing of camp remained in stable condition since it began sloping towards the sea, but the rest was gradually filling with inches of water.

Much of the day until lunch was spent moving the camp more towards the top of the nearby southern hill, which was just barely large enough to allow them to fit the entire camp on its crest. It would be cramped, but better than losing their tents and equipment to a flood. Luckily the procession was quick work and not too tedious, the rain serving to keep the Fallen from getting too exhausted. Pulling the ballistas to the top of the hill was the only real challenge, and even then Ray alone was enough to help any team get their machine up.

It was just a few minutes before the official dinner time, and most soldiers were finalizing setting up their tents. Ray was struggling to move through the crowded center of camp, too many soldiers circling around trying to either get back to their tents or to one of the areas where food would be served. A slight bonus to the steady rainfall was how much water they were able to store for later use, though it did mean a whole other team of a few hundred Fallen was needed to capture, store, and catalogue the information.

As expected, Kraven took care of that job while Skalos and Harbor worked on making sure everything still ran according to the daily schedule, even with the major changes present. Yarem was ensuring the tents were all positioned in their correct spots and that sanitation centers were correctly established, while Pelios was busy overseeing the distribution of food and assessing any potential damages the rain may have caused. Ray himself had been the only one doing the manual labor of moving equipment, supplies, and tents, but now that he was finished, he was hoping to take a long enough break to have a meal before checking in on the spiderlings.

Finally reaching the commanding tent, he pushed through the flap and let out a sigh of relief at how much relative space he had. Kraven and three of his staff were finishing up running numbers on the opposite end of the table in the center, paying him no mind as he sat down on one of the crates in the tent. With nobody else in the tent, it felt far more open than the narrow, crowded paths between tents he had just been on. He was soaked to the bone, his surprisingly long hair matted over his eyes as he looked around nearby for his meals. Thanks to the warmth of the falling rain he wasn’t cold, just wet and a little uncomfortable.

He kept his meals in the commander’s tent given how, more than all other places in the camp combined, he spent the most time here. The crate was wet but sealed well enough that the interior was not affected. Pulling out one of the parchment wrapped, pre-prepared meals, he opened up and made quick work of the fish, bread, cheese and grain bar, and little chocolate placed within. It was a dense meal, meant to pack as many calories into as few bites as possible, but Twilight had included the sweets as “a little treat”.

As soon as he was finished, he found Kraven expectantly staring at him, nobody else in the tent. He was polite enough to wait for the human to finish his meal before asking, “Are you finished?”

Wrapping the fish bones in the parchment and placing it back in the crate, he told the general, “Yes. what’re the numbers?”

“The water isn’t important right now,” Kraven replied offhandedly. “The spiderlings returned about an hour ago.”

“And I’m just now hearing about it,” Ray questioned, not mad, just surprised. Usually he received news like that in minutes.

“Well, Pelios was the first to hear of it from one of the broodmothers, and he took that information to Harbor. Harbor managed to pass it along through one of his assistants to Skalos. It took Skalos a little bit to give the information to Linium, who passed it along to me. I waited for you to show up here since there was no use trying to find you in this mess. I just received the news not five minutes ago, so well done finding a perfect opportunity to take a break.”

“Thank you,” Ray accepted, standing up. With a slightly concerned look, he asked the general, “Do you need to take a meal with you, or are you okay to begin heading over to the Matriarch right away?”

“I ate early, given I had a few moments in here while my team compiled a file for the water,” Kraven informed Ray, moving towards the tent flap. From the sounds of it, the rain had just barely stopped, giving them maybe fifteen minutes before the next session of rain. “If you need to know, we’ve already collected enough water to supply the army for a whole week. Another few days and we could save enough water to allow bathing not in the ocean.”

“It would be nice to have cooler, less salty baths,” Ray agreed, looking up at the sky as he exited the tent. It was still about two hours from sunset, but the darkened sky made it seem like night was much closer. They had, theoretically, four more hours to decipher whatever information the spiderlings returned with and establish a framework for their true plan of action.

“Indeed, though if we moved to the valley you uncovered, we wouldn’t have such problems as well,” Kraven pointed out matter-of-factly. “It would be nice to have a consistent source of freshwater nearby, and the natural terrain there sounds defensible. Have you at least considered it as an alternative plan?”

“It’s the primary backup plan,” Ray assured the stallion, looking down at him. Kraven wasn’t prone to many emotions, but he had a strange fixation on the Crevice. The stallion acknowledged that, at current, it wasn’t the best option for the army, but he was clearly still insistent that at some point or another, they set camp there. Ray agreed with most of his reasons to establish a base at the Crevice, but having seen it himself, he was hoping the north provided more opportunities than it. If there was a river, lake, forest, or even just green grass, it would probably be in closer proximity to a major population center… theoretically.

The minotaurs needed water and food, but based on the amounts they had discovered over time in the camp after the Second Battle of the Big Face, perhaps it wasn’t nearly as much as they thought. Still, the Golden Plains seemed utterly devoid of animal or plant life save for the sungrass, so a new environment was probably their best bet.

“Very well then, lordling,” Kraven nodded in understanding. The general bumped into a Fallen on accident, distracted by looking up at Ray. The Fallen dropped the food she was holding, yelping in surprise as apparently she hadn’t seen the general coming at all. Turning bright red instantly, the stallion quickly apologized, “I’m so sorry, my friend, I didn’t mean to…”

“Kraven,” the mare asked, a bright smile spreading across her face. “You just can’t seem to stay away from me, can you?”

Ray’s eyes widened as a disbelieving smile spread across his face. Unable to help himself in spite of Kraven’s dark blush, he asked, “Now Kraven, who might this be?”

“Nidina,” she greeted, looking up at Ray. “Wow, I… you’re a lot taller up front than you are from the archer lines…”

“That’s how distance proportionality works,” Kraven mumbled, looking away from the mare.

“Oh come on now, Kraven, you know I’m not as smart as you,” she complained in a ditzy way.

“Nopony is,” Kraven replied simply, avoiding eye contact at all costs as Ray began catching on. The blush was certainly of embarrassment, but the way the stallion was being cold to the insistent mare was far from playful.

Growing concerned, he told the mare, “Sorry about the meal. Go back and get more food if you need. Tell them Ray gave you special permission and to take it up with me in Tent 31 if they don’t believe me. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time to talk since Kraven and I have important business to attend to at the moment. I do hope you’ll understand.”

“Oh of course, sir,” she said with a quick bow. Then, smirking at his companion, she teasingly told him, “I’ll see you later, Kraven.”

Instantly the stallion was off, walking twice his normal speed with Ray struggling ever so slightly to keep up with him. Ray wanted to question the interaction, but given how public they were and the lingering stares of some Fallen who had watched them, he knew now wasn’t the time or place. Still, it left him feeling uncomfortable in a way he didn’t quite know or understand. Kraven could occasionally be blunt or impassive to certain things, but he was compassionate when it came to the Fallen specifically. Ray had never seen the stallion be so… maliciously cold.

Soon enough, though, they were out of the camp and walking down the hill, avoiding the occasional puddle or loose soil. The ground was too hard to be truly muddy, but the water had loosened enough of the soil that, from time to time, one of them would slip. Distantly, almost already at the spiderlings’ hole, was a small group of Fallen he knew would be the other generals, waiting for Kraven and Ray. Given they had all learned the news before him, he wasn’t surprised they were ahead of him and Kraven, but it was surprising that they were already almost there. Shaking away his thoughts, he took the opportunity the open, empty plains gave him to question the general beside him.

“So, Kraven, what was that all about,” he asked bluntly.

He received a surprised look from the Fallen, probably from how direct the human had questioned him, though after a moment, he mumbled, “It’s a long story.”

“And it’s a decent walk,” Ray countered immediately. “We’ve got time.”

“I guess, if you really want to know, sir,” Kraven began, interrupted by Ray raising a hand.

“I’m not asking you as your commanding officer, Kraven,” he corrected the general. “I’m asking as a friend.”

“Oh,” was the only response the young man received, the stallion falling silent. After a long moment of slow silence, the stallion simply said, “I was married before the war. I had a daughter.”

“Oh shit,” Ray couldn’t help but stammer, almost losing his footing as he walked alongside the forlorn Fallen.

“I joined in the turning of the army because I was worried I would never see them again,” Kraven continued, undeterred. “I thought Sombra would kill us all and would leave my wife widowed and my daughter without a father. I didn’t realize that by joining the Bastard Prince, I was securing my fate and theirs. After we surrendered to Luna and she damned us, they would have only been left with the knowledge that I had either died before the treachery or had been among the traitorous and cowardly. The shame I must have brought to them in their lives must have been ruinous, and all because, in the end, I was too scared to die a hero of Equestria and not live a traitor to it.

“At first, I was enraged with Luna for our damnation. How could she not see that many of us had only done what we thought was needed for survival? But then, I began to recognize exactly what our treachery had led to. Thousands of more ponies had died because of our cowardice than would have if we had stood our ground and fought back against Sombra. We destroyed the Oppotimare Valley and the towns there and let Sombra’s forces into Equestria. Once I came to recognize that, I became a melancholic mess. I set about learning everything I could while in the Harkening, sharpening my mind and expanding my knowledge about anything and everything I could. I promised I would never do anything so stupid again.

“I was one of the first Fallen to rename myself. Perhaps I was the one who really began the trend, though that’s a hard thing to trace. All I know is that before our fur began to fade and our eyes grew misty, I refused to go by my Equestrian name. I didn’t deserve it and let it get lost to time. There isn’t a singular Fallen than can remember what my name was before the Harkening, and I prefer to keep it that way. I gave myself the name of Kraven as a constant reminder of my cowardice and what it’s cost me, my wife, and my child. I’m one of the few Fallen that remained celibate throughout the entirety of our time there, and not once did I even consider suicide. I didn’t want a way out. My punishment was well deserved, and if given the chance, I would strive to earn my life back. That was how I saw our stay in the Harkening. It wasn’t a damnation, but a test, and I’d be damned if I’d fail it and Equestria once again.”

“I’d say you’ve proven yourself twice over, Kraven,” Ray told the stallion fervently, his mouth feeling strange as he said the forsaken Fallen’s name. Knowing exactly why he had chosen such a humiliating name… it made the human feel an odd sense of respect for him and a greater feeling of sadness. Kraven had a child and wife he lost because of his choice, and even if he survived the war and was restored, there was no way to get them back.

“That’s hardly the truth,” the Fallen replied, his voice firm. “The war has yet to end, and I haven’t faced the blade of the enemy and held firm. I'm a general of our archers and fight from the back, away from the front lines and the casualties. Once I have stood before the charge of the minotaurs and felled them without taking a step back… maybe then I will have proven I am not that cowardly colt from before.”

“If you say so,” Ray hesitantly agreed. He didn’t want to endorse the stallion’s tough definition of his success, but he knew Kraven’s mind wouldn’t be swayed. Besides, they had neared the spiderlings’ abode rather quickly, and he would likely want this conversation to remain between just the two of them. It was kind of unfair, considering every general had made a point of their concern to help Ray with whatever internal struggles he might be having, but that seemed to be the way of them all. Desperate to help each other but reluctant to face their own issues.

Even though they were near the spiderlings' hole, it was still almost three miles away. At this distance, however, the Matriarch had made her way over and the other generals were waiting at the designated point already. It was a bit strange how Ray hadn’t even noticed how the giant arachnid had emerged from the earth and traveled towards them until she was right on top of them. The other generals were standing in a strange formation, a number of puddles forcing them to spread out in order to not be in the muck.

“So, the spiderlings have returned,” Ray surmised, looking around at each general. They all wore official, attentive expressions, though some clearly had seen more water than the rest. The sun was beginning to set, and thanks to the cloud cover, it meant a slight mugginess to the air that wasn’t quite comfortable. That and the exhausting day meant it was best to quicken the meeting as much as possible. “Well, what’s the news then, World Weaver.”

“There are forests to the north,” the Matriarch unceremoniously revealed, causing Ray’s heart rate to increase rapidly. “After about ten days of travel north along the coast, my spiderlings came across a stretch of grasslands and small coves along the cliff sides. They spent many days exploring these places and went further north. Though they lost track of distance after about forty miles, they estimate that seventy miles north and five miles inland, they found the first trees. The forest became much denser the more northwest they traveled, until they were in a warm, thick forest of trees unlike that of Equestria’s. They were still green and brown, but they were thicker and much more evenly placed, less wild and more self-controlled.

“There are birds in the trees, little rodents on the ground, and fish in small creeks that permeate the forest. Very distantly, they believe they saw snow-capped mountains. However, when they turned back southward and reentered the grasslands, they could find no trace of minotaurs. The grasslands are small, maybe five miles from north to south, though they stretch to hills and what may be mountains in the far west. It seems that they do not inhabit the grasslands themselves. Furthermore, in spite of finding creeks, there are no rivers, lakes, or even ponds that they found. They became behind schedule because Hdakdeala was certain the patterns of the land would reveal water. Alas, that was not the case.”

“So, no major bodies of water,” Kraven inquired, a look of deep thoughtfulness on his face.

“No, it would appear there aren’t,” the Matriarch confirmed. Suddenly, a broodmother crawled from the giant spider’s back and down one of her front legs. “This is Hdakdeala, one of my first-broods. She led the scouting and can tell you some of what she saw herself.”

The broodmother, who loomed almost an entire pony above Ray’s head, peered at the group with wide, curious eyes. Then, in a broken, slightly feminine voice, she told them, “Strange things there. Greenery, but no water. Clouds but no rain. Heat, but no burning. Life, but no living. The birds taste of meat but are not Equestrian. Very strange, indeed, and hospitable for life. Why no life, then? Mother cannot say. Hdakeala cannot guess, does not know!”

“That is strange,” Skalos agreed, staring at the broodmother. “Hdakeala, do you know if there could be any life up there? Any chance that trees were missing or animals gone?”

“Some trees, yes, cut from the roots,” the broodmother confirmed, nodding her head ecstatically. “The stumps are old, but young. Minotaurs have been to the trees, not recently, but in this lifetime, yes. Wood and timber and lumber they have stolen, but to the plains they go. The hills and weapons, they vanish to.”

“Then it seems the minotaurs have left something of a trail we can follow,” Pelios declared, looking around at the others. “If they use the trees up there as their source of lumber, then a settlement can’t be too far away, correct? They wouldn’t drag trees they’ve chopped down hundreds of miles away, especially if the forest is particularly large.”

“We know the minotaurs must be up there, then,” Ray agreed. “There’s tangible evidence they are there, and we can guess that because of the relative abundance of life and water, they would be somewhere nearby. Maybe not within immediate distance of where the spiderlings scouted out, but they are nearby and not out of reach.”

“It seems, then, that we’ll need to put our plan into action, make it official with Twilight and prepare our soldiers to march,” Harbor added. “We have plenty of time tomorrow and the day after to make preparations to move camp out, especially considering we’ve already had to move it around a bit. I would go so far as to say we could begin moving out the day of the full moon to get that much more ahead in schedule. The Matriarch could bring Ray back to the wayport and the rest of us would rest the night. We’d wait out the day out of camp, seeing one last time if there are any enemies approaching, before continuing up northward. It took the spiderlings at least ten days to reach the grasslands, so it’ll take our army at least two weeks of marching.”

“That means Ray wouldn’t make it back to the wayport in time for a visit with Equestria,” Yarem pointed out. “The round trip would be too long, and we couldn’t afford to lose him and the Matriarch for two whole days.”

“We can’t be leashed to the wayport,” Ray stated firmly. “As much as I’d like to make such appointments, our job isn’t reporting to Twilight. I’ll explain to everybody what we’re doing. They’ll understand. With that in mind, what’s our next move?”

“Well, we’d rest once we reach the grasslands,” Pelios stated. “We’d need to after two weeks straight of marching. After a couple days of resting while our scouts and the spiderlings do reconnaissance should provide us enough time and information to decide our next move. If we spot an enemy army, we pursue and destroy. If we don’t, we dive westward, away from the coast and seek out anything hinting to a minotaur army or settlement. Either way, we’d be filling out more of our map and finding things that may be useful to us.”

“What about the harbor,” Skalos questioned, glancing between Kraven and Pelios.

“The harbor would be of no use to the minotaurs for at least a month, and even then, there’s the matter of constructing a sea-worthy boat there,” Kraven answered intuitively. “Based on our current knowledge, the northern forests would be their closest source of wood unless the barren lands south somehow hide a forest in them. That would mean that, in order to have the supplies to build a ship and repair the harbor, they would run directly into us. Let alone the fact that the bay itself is currently clogged not only with the wreckage of their own ship, but our own sunken vessels, and they would have to also take the time to somehow clear those obstructions. Even if we spent two entire months in the north, they would barely have begun construction on their vessel before we returned. Logically speaking, that is.”

“The minotaurs seem to at least have a basic sense of logic, so I suppose we’ll be basing our plan off those presumptions,” Ray finalized. “With that in mind, I take it we keep with our current draft of a plan and apply the new information we have to it, correct?”

Each of the generals looked back and forth between one another, seeing if there was any point that needed to be brought up before confirmation. Seeing there was none at the moment, they each silently nodded in agreement to the plan. So, it was confirmed. They would be going north now to seek out their next, and hopefully last fight.

“Then are we leaving the day of the full moon, as Harbor proposed, or do we wait until the day after to set out on our march,” Ray questioned, looking around at the generals to see what they thought.

“Well, this question is mostly taking into account you, lordling,” Skalos pointed out respectfully. “If we march the day of and then wait the day after, you at least get some rest after your journey before we set out on a long march. If we set out afterwards, it could essentially become what it was life for you at the First Battle of the Big Face.”

Cringing at the memory of his exhaustion and the general pain of that day, the human stated, “I think I would much prefer the first option, in that case. However, feel free to-”

“We’re all going to agree with you on that,” Pelios interrupted with a slight smirk. “If this is going to be a much larger and prolonged campaign than our first one, it’d be preferable for all of us if you got a good period of rest before any major confrontations.”

“And, continuing to be blunt, it’d be much nicer for everyone to march one day, rest another, and then continue onwards,” Harbor added. “If we were to go at it in one long attempt, perhaps we would find ourselves too exhausted to face the minotaurs in our best shape, and that, of course, would be a major factor to consider in battle. We’ll still be exhausted from some thirteen days straight of marching, but maybe the day’s rest after the initial march will be like a little booster to our speed and energy.”

“I’ll have to agree with Harbor, his plan is much more appealing from a certain standpoint,” Kraven spoke up. “It’d also be useful to gauge what a day of marching in this changing weather would be like. If the rain persists, we may have to postpone, or if the heat returns. Either way, having a day to march and then a day to evaluate what continual marching may look like would be excellent as well. There doesn’t seem to be any deterrents from such a strategy, save potentially from some time we may lose. However, we aren’t in a particular rush to find our next battle, and if being a day quicker comes at the expense of performance, I would argue it is much better to be slower and more prepared than quicker and exhausted.”

“Agreed,” Hdakdeala clicked thoroughly. “Spiderlings get a day ahead of army too. Warn of enemy. See any signs. We will kill spies. Obscure our lines.”

“Then it seems we’re in agreement,” Ray said. Looking from one general to the next before ending on Hdakeala, he gave a slight nod. “In two days, we’ll march out on the full moon. At nightfall the Matriarch will return me to the wayport for my visit, during which I will inform Princess Twilight of our plans and warn her that I will not be making the next full moon. From there, we take a day of rest and evaluate what our march will look like. If there seems to be no hindrance, either from the weather or minotaurs, we continue northward for thirteen days until we presumably reach the grasslands. From there, we take another couple of days to rest and recuperate, scouring the area with spiderlings and scouts to find any signs of minotaurs. If we spot an army, we attack and destroy it. If we do not, we delve westward until we find something to conquer, destroy, or report back to Equestria. After two months from when we’ve set out, we’ll begin our return if we haven’t fought a battle or needed to return to ensure the harbor is secure and free of minotaurs.”

“Sounds like a solid plan,” Pelios declared, a satisfied grin on his face. “I’d say that our work, for the moment, is done here gentlecolts.”

“I agree as well, best not overthink any ‘maybes’ or ‘ifs’ right now,” Yarem surmised with a wry grin at a hesitant Kraven.

Noticing the look, the intelligent Fallen let out a reluctant sigh before simply stating, “Perhaps.”

“If we are all in agreement, there is one more subject I’d like to bring up before dismissing you for the night,” Ray quickly announced with a pointed look up at the Matriarch before letting his eyes drift down to Hdakdeala. Raising an arm to point at the broodmother, he stated, “We would not have been able to form our plans tonight without the information and input provided by Hdakdeala, here. We’ve long known we need more than just the Matriarch to represent the spiderlings in our planning and execution of this war, however we never had a proper candidate. Well, Hdakdeala has proven herself well-spoken and informed on the proceedings of war, as well as an invaluable source of firsthand information. Therefore, I propose that from here-on-out, the broodmother is formally a part of our war councils and an official commanding officer of the spiderlings, second only to the Matriarch.”

“I second the motion,” Pelios quickly voiced, stepping forward slightly. “The spiderlings have been an invaluable part of our war machine and will continue being so until it is concluded. I agree they need more representation, and even though we don’t know her well, Hdak- Dakhela-”

“Hdakdeala,” Ray said for the struggling stallion.

“-yes, Hdakdeala, is undoubtedly a trustworthy and valiant ally to have in our circle,” the general finished confidently.

“I have no grievances,” Kraven stated simply, glancing around at the other three. There seemed to be no vocal disagreement to the idea, and even though he could see some slight hesitance from the generals only familiar with the Matriarch, Ray knew that in order to get over such aversions, this was the move to make.

“I don’t hear any objections,” Ray declared, “so I’m making it official.” Reaching out a hand to the confused broodmother, he told her, “Welcome to the command staff of the army.”

Giving the outstretched hand a curious stare at first, Hdakdeala finally reached out her own feeler to take hold of it, nervously stating, “I will serve as best I can beside you. We will overcome. Together.”

Author's Note:

I've been on a bit of a grind, trying to catch up for lost time in January. This will hopefully keep up through March and April, because the goal is to be finished with the story by early July. Anyways, as always, questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted!