Chapter Text
The chill in the air, it’s virtually unnatural to Jhera’s mind. She knew that it was said the region called Coerthas would be cold, and she had girded her mind for precisely what flavor of environmental obstacles they might face within that equation, but now that she’s in it, the Ordinarius doesn’t really know what to think. She’d heard the previous war fought had a devastating effect not solely on the people with a great amount of losses, but furthermore on the landscape and as they’ve abruptly treaded squarely into a snowy wasteland, she can see what those effects were implying.
This being said, it’s not quite the weather itself which is weighing on Jhera, but rather the circumstances of their latest mission. Not that she suspects there’s a risk of them failing necessarily, nor is she concerned for her own life, but she’s not going to dispute that the stakes are higher, and indubitably for those incorporated in the assault itself. Upon returning to coast, Livia had ordered the regular NCO team to be mustered and stand ready for the mission, and she’d told them that they had to pick out a number of critical individuals as well who could benefit the odds therein – among those are Hakuro and a minor count of additional ferocious or adept troopers.
The Tribunus must be aware that not all of them may make it out of this and she’s obviously stacked the deck in order to ensure that fulfillment of the objectives is met, but the completion of the mission does not necessitate the survival of everyone who’s going. And that…well, it has been Jhera’s lodestar from the first, and she’s now stewing over that she may have to scrap her own preferences in order to warrant the Empire’s goals, something she…doesn’t feel particularly good about. She is a tool, a willing servant of those who bested her all those years prior, with the commitment that her home would be safeguarded should she prevail in her execution well enough. And yet…her tendency for making close allies is getting the better of her once more.
Partially seeking to debate this with someone, Jhera goes to find wherever Fordola lurks in the camp they’ve erected in the wilds of Coerthas. They were flown in just a couple of days ago and have been equipped with sets of warming clothes, plus instruments to keep their gear in shape against the elements. Jhera had figured that it doesn’t get this freezing anywhere but in the hellish north where Garlemald is situated – particularly as Eorzea is sitting further south than even her own homecity is – but maybe she can’t judge the world in such black and white colors, whether that makes her comfortable or not. She’s perpetually learning new aspects everywhere she goes, but she can’t tell if that’s for good or not.
Finally observing the highlander speaking with a couple of the sentries on the outskirts of their temporary lair, a camp that was made by the foot of some hills with no settlements in sight, Jhera approaches them and nods when they spot her.
“Evening”, she tells them, for it is certainly sunless in their midst, even if the bright snow and the sparkling stars overhead prevent it from getting pitch-black.
“Yo”, goes Fordola, unlike the four who stand around her that salute. “Having a stroll, Ordinarius?”
“Something along those lines”, Jhera hints. “Nothing special to report, I hope?”
One of the men present, a burly roegadyn, shakes his head.
“Not so far, ma’am. We heard there might be beasties skulking in this place, stalking down prey in the cold, but we haven’t noted any particular activity.”
“Right. Well, recall that it’s not the wildlife but the Ishgardian patrols we should worry about the most.”
“Don’t worry, we’re keeping an eye out for those too, but they clearly don’t roam this far out.”
“For now, anyway”, goes Fordola. “Something we can do for ya, Ordinarius?”, wonders Fordola.
Due to the level of closeness that the duo enjoys in private, it does come off as a little…surreal when Fordola addresses her with the rank. Sure, Jhera is Primus Ordinarius and she never lets anyone forget it, not to mention that the pair has been pulling this charade for weeks, but…well, maybe Jhera has simply adjusted to another sense of normalcy already. She favors when Fordola calls her real name with better casualness…or when she moans it out softly in their moments of privacy.
“As a matter of fact, there was a topic I’d like to broach with you, Centurion. Come with me.”
Fordola glances at her comrades and then shrugs.
“When duty calls, she calls”, the highlander tells them, making the others chuckle.
“Don’t worry, we get it, ma’am. She makes the rules.”
“Heh, yeah. Anyway, keep watching. I’ll be back, probably.”
“Copy that.”
When they drift off, Jhera takes them on a circling path, out of view from their allies and even draw them behind a body of minor trees and rocks which could grease the capacity for them to hinder the view. Once they’re alone, Jhera’s mood unanticipatedly mutates and she tilts into Fordola’s frame, wrapping her arms around the taller woman’s waist, which Fordola reciprocates by layering hers over Jhera’s shoulders. For a couple of minutes, they’re locked in a thick snuggle, keeping one another in warmer temperatures with kisses, embraces and the clenching of limbs around the other in order to stave off the frigidness.
“Heh, missed me, huh?”, Fordola jests quietly when their lips manage to decouple for a spell.
“Maybe a shred”, Jhera says in her usual monotone modulation.
“Tsk, don’t gotta be shy with how ya feel, good-looking.”
“…wasn’t being, either. Just…wanted you for myself a bit.”
Fordola can’t preclude the chuckle that leaves her throat, then.
“Y’know, I like it when you get sentimental like this. Or maybe even needy.”
“…hmph. When have I ever been needy?”
“Oh, I dunno. How ‘bout after our last assignment, huh?”
“…that…was merely an exception.”
“Right right. If you wanna call it that, dear.”
Jhera snorts and lets her eye leave the shared stare that she and her lover had maintained, in order to suspend the assurance of the highlander that she’s winning.
“Anyway, how are you? Or more importantly, how are you handling the weather?”
Her shoulders slump a drab at that, and Fordola shakes her head.
“Blech, yeah, that’s the right question for certain…not gonna lie either – I hate it. You know what it’s like in Gyr Abania, right? Warm and dry. I mean, not all the freaking time and it can get frosty over there as well, especially in the winter we’re at now. But Coerthas is just…I dunno. Like a snow hellscape almost.”
“Heh, fair enough. I am not used to either, admittedly.”
“That’s not to say I can’t manage, by the way, cuz I can. I’m not one to let a lil’ bit of rough weather get to me.”
“Good, and I had no doubt that you could. You are a strong spirit and have ever been.” For a short stretch then, Jhera eyes her comrade up and down, and the two of them are standing not specifically in their armors at this stage, but appropriate thick winter coats, as well as gloves and better boots. “Tangentially, with your attire on, I must say you look…kind of cute in this.”
Fordola instinctively arches an eyebrow, particularly for she believes she spots a warming of the grey skin over Jhera’s cheeks, but she can’t descry whether that is merely a trick of the moonlight. In either case, the Centurion smirks.
“Hah! Says you? Babe, with your fluffy coat and these adorable ears o’ yours”, she says and runs a couple of fingers around said appendages, which induces a tiny twitch in response, “you’re ‘bout the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Like some kinda snow leopard.”
Had she predicted her teasing would be effective, she is spot-on, for Jhera’s eye compresses lightly and her tail spirals with less than amusement.
“…snow leopards aren’t black.”
Fordola can’t stifle the laughter which flies from her mouth.
“Want me to call you a precious black kitty instead, then?”
“…shut up.” Figuring that she doesn’t really mean this pouty response, Fordola embraces Jhera and snuggles into those feline ears. Seeing as the miqo’te doesn’t pull away and preferably buries her face against Fordola’s chest, she isn’t really indignant at the behavior. Somehow, had Jhera been able to, Fordola pictures that the miqo would be purring in this instant.
When her vexation has ebbed away, Jhera peers up yet again at the hyur. There’s a given and pointed intent in there which Fordola isn’t fully qualified to determine right away. “How are you looking at the danger we’ll be leaping into?”
“You mean with where we’re headed?” She shrugs nonchalantly and though she keeps her arms about Jhera, her gaze slides to the side. “It’ll be interesting, I’ll give it that, despite that I don’t know a whole bunch ‘bout Ishgard’s interior. Never come by the place.”
“Mm, I remember.”
“I’d like to have witnessed it for myself, since it sounds like the type o’ city that’s not super unlike my home. A civilization steeped in militarism and rigid structures, but with a history that differs from ours…but it’s never quite been an option, if we take into account that it’s so distant. The opposition will be tough in there, I imagine, but that only makes it an exhilarating challenge.”
“That’s a good point, and I have given it some thought, including the risks.” After another couple of heartbeat’s faltering, Jhera glimpses up at Fordola’s visage. “Considering how you were jeopardized both in our previous task and that one time against your sister…I have wondered whether I should put you off the mission.”
And that’s the real knocker which Fordola hadn’t foreshadowed to have lurked amid them, which is what floors the Centurion, who jerks her head back ahead of eyeballing her lover once more.
“What?! Are you-…why in the hells would you figure that?!”
“Well…honestly, I wonder if it might be for the best of us both. From that angle, neither of us would be distracted and…” Her shoulders sag a tad whilst she peers into the environment. “…I wouldn’t wish for you to get hurt again.”
Fordola pores over this utterance only shortly, prior to snorting with an air of disappointment.
“Me? Are you serious? Last I recall, it was you who got hurt guarding me.”
“I-…maybe, but…”
“Don’t just turn everything ‘round into this being ‘bout you stewing over me doing some stupid shit that’ll get me mangled up, cuz that’s not what it results in every time. Tell me honestly, Era: do you reckon I’m a burden to you and the others?”
Jhera is not one who generally suppresses her emotions through and through, but she is fairly decent at downplaying them behind a veneer of strictness and intimidation. That said, should one know for what or where to spy, they could peg down where her genuine sensibilities lie and Fordola has gotten a fair masterfulness of this recently, which is how she’s trained to note the writhing of Jhera’s ears and the erecting of her tail when she’s blindsided by this allegation.
“Wha-…no. No, Dola. Absolutely not. You could never be, I swear it. I…I’m merely adjusting for your wellbeing…”
“In that case, leave me in the team. The best scenario for me right now is to stand with you and the others against our common foe and bring our goals in the bag. I’m not gonna abandon you, Era, and I only ask that you don’t sub me out for no reason. Is that really so extreme?”
She’s playing not only on Jhera’s guilt with this mental onslaught, but on their communion, that the two of them stand together through rain or shine. The whim must’ve crossed Jhera during those seconds where she was instilled with the accusations made regarding abandonment, inadequacy and betrayal, none of which she wishes to be guilty of. And by Fordola’s comments, she’d be liable of these by not standing up for her, which is why Jhera makes to be uncomfortable accepting her defeat.
“…no, it’s not. You…are right, I suppose. I won’t make the call for you.” Leastwise she won’t in this event, but Fordola anticipates this won’t be the last she hears of these grievances.