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When Lieutenant Kesling had first informed Valentin that they were heading for the League, to investigate the rumoured attacks on Galdea by the Eltisweiss Watch, Valentin had privately thought the mission to be below them. Surely a smaller, less prestigious unit could tackle this go and see mission. There were bigger fish to look into at home, by his books.
…aaaand then he had remembered that Nowa was a member of the Watch. Being that Nowa had been Seign's favourite topic for the passed six months, perhaps this mission was less rooted in orders, and was actually more of the volunteer variety. Valentin could not blame him, precisely—he, too, had had a first crush, once upon a time—but it did concern him as to what they might find. If the rumours were a lie, that…did not bode well for the state of things at home. If they were not a lie…that was even worse. Both regarding relations between the two nations, and for personal matters.
In the end, Valentin volunteered to personally accompany Seign. He had promised Arthur he would watch over the kid, and that aside, he did want to know what was going on. So, he went along, both as Seign sought permission from Lady Grum, and as they headed deep into Grum territory, seeking answers.
What they found was a village on fire—quite literally, unfortunately—which on its own was cause enough cause for concern, however…it was not even one of their villages, as rumours claimed. This village—Kyshiri, Valentin thought—was decidedly not within the borders of Galdea. No, this was a League village, and that didn't make a single iota of sense. What, exactly, was going on?
The fire seemed to be engulfing every structure in the village—this was no accident. Someone had to have set the fire, because no natural blaze spread in such a uniform fashion. That fact was reinforced when Seign pointed out a number of hooded figures fleeing the scene and—dammit. They were camping out the entrance! Of all the dirty, rotten, underhanded…
At Seign's suggestion, they split up. Valentin and half their forces headed into the village, to guide the townsfolk away from the main thoroughfare, while Seign took the other half to see to the villagers' needs. He definitely got the short end of the stick, but…hey, he was sort of glad Seign wasn't the one running into the fire. Arthur would have his head if he saw Valentin letting his little brother run into an active blaze.
So, into the fire Valentin had gone. The wet cloth he had pressed over his mouth was doing little to protect his throat at this point, as thick smoke billowed around him. The wind was nonexistent today, which was a blessing in stopping the fire from spreading to the fields and forest, but it meant the smoke was hanging over him, thick and heavy. It was difficult to see through, and breathing was getting harder by the minute.
He kept low, blinking back tears from his stinging eyes and praying he did not walk away from this with too many burns—but by the bloody Lenses he was not going to leave these people to cook. Battle was for those who chose to fight, not for these innocents.
There!
He wiped his eyes with the cloth, and hurried towards where he'd seen movement, coughing through the cloth as he covered his mouth again. Thankfully, the noise seemed to draw the attention of those he had spotted, and they hurried over, bent low under the smoke and coughing through their own makeshift masks.
Through the smoke, he caught the gaze of the beastyn and motioned for him to follow. The beastyn hesitated, no surprise there, and Valentin lowered his head, sucked on a deep breath, then straighten. “It's death that way. They blocked the road.”
That, it seemed, was enough warning, and the group wordlessly fell in with him. Valentin sure hoped they were the last, because he was not going back again.
Soot covered and coughing, they made there way down the northern hunting trail Seign had opted to use for the evacuation. What minimal breeze there was was pushing the smoke south, which meant they burst clear of the cloud before long, and collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Masks were lowered as they eyed Valentin uneasily. He had not led them into a trap, however, so that was seemingly worth some degree of trust, because they did not immediately draw their weapons on him.
“An Imp, huh,” the beastyn said roughly. Valentin did not know if his voice was rough from the smoke, or if he always sounded like that. “Can't say this is a good look for you.”
Valentin raised his hands, clearing his throat. “Just here to help. If you want to go, feel free.”
It was the young human man who spoke next, doubled over with his hands braced on his knees as he caught his breath. “W-wait, Garr.” He straightened, then, flipping his ponytail over his shoulder. “Do you…do you know if anyone else got out?”
Valentin smiled. “I sincerely hope everyone else got out. I put a great deal of effort into finding everyone I could.”
The young man sank to his knees, breathing deeply. “E-everyone?”
“Everyone I could find,” he confirmed.
The young man looked back at the beastyn—Garr, apparently. “We have to check.”
“Yeah, come on!” the group's final member, a young woman with vibrant hair, all but yelled. “If he's lying, we'll just beat him to a pulp.”
“Charming…” Valentin muttered. He wasn't lying, however, so he turned and set off to cover the short distance remaining to where Seign had set up. The group, it seemed, had opted to follow him, for a moment later he heard footsteps fall in behind him once again.
The villagers were sprawled out in a field upwind of the fire, seeing to their wounds and wiping soot and grime from themselves, and very much not-dead. Several of the adults hurried to greet the group as they arrived. One, an older woman who had been instrumental in looking after the others, hurried forward with water and a cloth.
“Oh, you made it,” she said, moving to wipe at the young man's face. “Thank goodness.”
“Aunt Martha!” he breathed, throwing his arms around the woman. “You're—“
She hugged him back tightly, and Valentin smiled grimly to himself. That was why he kept going back into that fire.
“Is everyone okay?” Garr was asking. He was shaking ashes from his fur as he looked over the assembled villagers. The girl, too, had stepped in to mingle with the villagers.
“I think everyone is okay, love,” the woman called Martha said, extracting herself from the hug and holding the young man at arm's length. “Now come get cleaned up.”
“But—Leene—“ he said, looking around.
Valentin perked up. Had they missed someone?
“Left the village a week ago,” Martha responded.
Valentin tuned them out. If nobody was left to rescue, it was none of his business. Though…it was a little interesting. How did the boy not know this Leene was gone? They had simply shown up by chance on the exact day the village was burned down? Hm…
“Valentin, is that you?”
The sound of Seign's voice, raised over the general hum of conversation from the villagers and soldiers, drew him away from the reunion to where Seign was hailing him. He turned towards the voice. “Present and accounted for, Lieutenant,” he responded, spotting Seign weaving towards him. “And mostly none-the-worse for wear.”
“That is a relief. Were you able to find everyone?”
“I believe so,” he said, approaching Seign, but he was beaten to the punch by…the young man from the fire, who unceremoniously shouldered passed him.
“Is that—Seign?”
Seign had pushed clear of the crowd at the voice, and Valentin did not miss the genuine surprise on his face. “What—Nowa?”
Oh.
“Did—was this—“ Nowa stammered, looking back over the villagers, then back to Seign and the Kesling forces.
“I—I did what I could,” Seign said slowly. Before he could say more, Nowa had launched himself at Seign.
Valentin reacted quickly, reaching for his weapon—only to stop dead. Nah, that wasn't a threat, but Seign was turning an interesting shade of red. Nowa had grabbed him in a hug, and Seign was standing uselessly, arms limp and blushing. It was a comical look on him.
“I—Nowa, I—“ Seign stammered.
“Thank you, Seign. Without you—you saved my family,” Nowa said. There was no mistaking the gratitude in his voice as anything but genuine.
Seign reacted at last, reaching up to hesitantly wrap his arms around Nowa in return. “I…am glad to help. Truly.”
Yeah, that pretty much confirmed the crush theory. Valentin hid a smile behind his hand and turned to shoo the troops back to work. They didn't need to gawk too much at their commander's private moment.
Seign had his blush mostly under control by the time Nowa released him. Nowa stepped back with a small blush of his own, seemingly a little embarrassed by his own actions. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away as he mumbled, “I…uh. Thanks, Seign. Really. I don't think I can ever repay you for this.”
They called Seign cold, but there was nothing at all cold about the gentle smile he offered Nowa in response. “Please, there is nothing to repay me for. I am simply glad to be of service.”
What kind of service, hm, Seign? Valentin smiled at his own thoughts, but did not give voice to them. Seign would either combust on the spot…or completely miss the innuendo, and Valentin was betting on the latter. Besides, the two had moved on to other, more important, topics as Valentin tuned back in.
…between them, nobody understood why this village had been attacked. Call him crazy, but things were about to get interesting. And not in a good way. Someone had orchestrated this situation, and had Seign not insisted on coming here, the Watch would likely have believed that Galdea had been behind this attack. Moreover, it shed a dark light upon the rumours Valentin had heard regarding the Watch attacking villages in the Empire. It seemed highly unlikely that Nowa and his ilk were behind those attacks. So then…who? That was something they were going to have to find out for themselves, and something told Valentin that they might not like the answer.
“He's the kind of friend you need,” Valentin remarked casually as they watched Nowa and his group take their leave some time later.
“…a friend,” Seign said slowly. “Yes, perhaps.”
Valentin turned to study Seign. He looked determined, in exactly the same way Arthur always had. It was a good look on him. “…shall we head home and find out what that was all about?” Valentin wasn't entirely certain what they would learn at home, but something told him they would not like it.
Seign turned to face him. “Yes. Let's.”
…spirits help them, but whatever they found at home, and whatever choices were foisted upon them in the coming days…Valentin prayed that Seign would make it out the other side able to live with himself, because that boy, that Nowa…he was not destined to be their ally.
~
When, mere weeks later, they met Nowa once more outside Eltisweiss, Valentin would watch Seign waiver for the first time, and then everything they knew would collapse under them. When they emerged on the other side of that war, Valentin would be glad Seign Kesling had met a boy named Nowa, in that small village in Grum County. Because what they got in the end? Oh, that was something worth fighting for.