C r o w n⠀P r i n c e⠀A b b a s⠀w a s⠀the best kept shame of Eclisa. He was the opposite of his father, never seeming to care about his country or the goings on inside it. Lana had been born and raised in the palace of Eclisa and she could count the times she had seen the prince on her fingers and didn't even have to count the times she had had a real conversation with him since she had never had one.
She slowed down to a walk as she entered the palace through a servant's entrance. She then took a staircase three steps at a time as she made her way back to her room and the bath that awaited her.
The prince was a sore subject around those in the army. He had been given the position of Colonel by his father to try and "make him into a real man, no one that limp can be a king," but it had back fired. He had never shown up for meetings, never took care of his men and finally the king took him out of the army just to stop the complaining about him. That had been when Lana was a Major so she had not had to deal with the young princeling.
As Lana entered her room she knew something was off. The room was almost exactly as she had left it—closet still open, bed unmade—the servants that had been assigned to her room had learned not to mess with anything or clean anything unless asked to. The bathroom door was now open which was understandable as she knew that there was a now cooling bath waiting for her inside it—the one thing that was bothering her was the door to her balcony. It was still closed shut but something in her gut was telling her to go closer.
Her lips pursed as she walked closer to the door, making sure to keep every step as quiet as possible. When she got close enough to touch the handle she noticed the lock was unbolted. Someone had used her balcony door.
Her eyes narrowed as her fingers grabbed onto the door handle and quickly yanked it open.
First she registered the soft gasp issued by the person standing on her balcony, then as she took a step forward and grabbed the intruder by the back of his shirt after registering just an instant later that there was only one person who would enter her room without an invitation and who had that much muscle packed into his back and arms and... well, everywhere.
"Glad to see you haven't lost your skills at deduction," he said and she just knew he had that stupid grin on his face.
She shoved him toward the balcony railing. "Kwan, I swear to God—"
He caught himself on the metal and turned slowly to face her. Lana's arms crossed as he gave her a small smile. Even though she was jumping up and down in her head that Lawrence Kwan was actually smiling she just frowned at him, using all her mental strength to try and keep up her lack of a grin.
"Is it really that big of a surprise that I'm here?" He asked cocking his head to the side and she had to admit that he had a point. They usually met to go down to breakfast together, but it wasn't even close for that—the bright colors of the sunrise had just begun to blend into the bright blue Eclisian sky.
"You're early."
He just shrugged resting his strong, calloused hands on the railing of her balcony, his ear still close to his shoulder. He looked as though he was a butcher inspecting a cow that he was about to slaughter, his grin faded into just the corners of his mouth turned upward in the slightest of smiles.
There was the smile she knew.
Her arms folded across her chest as she shot him a pointed look. "Well, Colonel, since you're so early, you can wait for me to actually be ready."
"Sounds alright to me, ma'am," Kwan said and in the blink of an eye he was upright, his lounging—butcher like stance gone, and his hand shot up in a crisp salute.
Lana rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to go into the shower that awaited her.
As she entered her bathing chamber and closed the door, she stuck a finger in the full bath tub and sighed. It was lukewarm and cooling by the second. Lana huffed and stripped quickly hoping to take the fastest shower ever recorded in female history.
Lana could hear Kwan entering her room from the balcony and walking around, probably messing up her perfectly unorganized stacks of reports. She didn't bother glancing at the unlocked door, which she kept unlocked for three reasons: one, if Kwan came in, she would skin him alive. Two, she was lazy and didn't need to waste the silly time it would take to make sure the door was in place and the lock was turned all the way. Three, she trusted Kwan, and even though she was mad at him for wasting time that she could have spent in a much warmer and more comfortable bath, she knew he wouldn't bother her.
When she had finished scrubbing the sweat off and had dried and pulled on a crisp black shirt and black pants she exited the room, her hair tied up in her towel.
"You didn't tell me the Crotte Royals were coming," Kwan said by way of greeting, not even bothering to look up as he heard her open the door and her bare feet quietly plodding on the stone floors of her bedroom.
"It isn't for a while so you didn't need to know," she replied grabbing a new pair of socks and her cleaner, sturdier pair of boots before plopping down on her stool by the mirror again.
He responded with a grunt which meant he understood that she hadn't gone through that pile yet. She untangled her hair from the towel and began on the work of combing (yanking) the knots out and braiding (not so gracefully) it back and away from her face. Braiding was in high fashion in court although being on top of the latest fashions of Eclisa, she had latched onto this one for the simple way of keeping her hair in place while also having a small splash of feminine pride in her everyday life.
Kwan was still reading her latest pile of reports when she stood and grabbed her gray tunic which symbolized her rank and cleared her throat.
"At your leisure, Colonel."
"My leisure never really works out for you."
"Well at least your right about something," Lana flashed him a grin as he placed the reports back down on her desk and walked to her side. Every movement he performs was crisp and clean and well, just all together Lawrence—always moving and thinking like he could fix everything and make it perfect if he himself was just that, which he seemed to be.
With a small nod, the two walked out the door letting their feet find the same rhythm, not needing to say anything as they made their way to see their men.
—
Colonel Kwan and General Kajal always arrived at the mess hall together. When they were both not a part of the officer class of the army this had garnered snickers and rumors, but now they were met with grins and hellos to which Lawrence gave small nods and Lana stopped to say hello and exchange pleasantries with the ever-present Colonel at her side. It seemed as though she knew everyone in the mess hall, and everyone in the mess hall wanted to know her.
As the pair slowly made their way through the many tables packed with men, one talking the other observing, they were joined by a tall, muscle bound brunette whose constant glare had kept him from making many friends save the Bunker 19 crew. Sergeant Nox Bernard was about as smart as he looked, which wasn't too much, but at the same time far stronger than he looked, which was a lot. For that reason he had been claimed by Magnar when they had been placed in the same barracks. The two had then been joined by Lawrence forming the Bunker 19 Boys which lost the last word when Lana had entered their life. Nox added another not so friendly face behind Lana as she made her way, chatting to her men, to the line to get food.
The daily routine continued on as Sean Magnar would saunter into the mess hall and flash his 'woman melting' grin and continue his confident walk to his general. Lana would of course roll her eyes at him to the amusement of the men surrounding her and ignore him as she kept her attention on those she was talking to.
Every morning was the same, and this morning was no different except for the lack of looseness of the men, it was inspection day after all. Lana tried to shake the stiff postures out of the men with some stupid jokes which were just met with grins and critiques. She was actually happy when Magnar came in which helped to brighten up the mood of the men.
The four finally made their way through the paths between the tables and joined the diminishing line to receive their breakfast.
In the mess hall there were only four rules:
1. You're not allowed to sit at the same table twice or more a week.
2. A barrack could not claim a table any given day.
3. Everyone is highly encouraged to intermix with the other barracks and not just sit with their barrack.
4. If anyone starts a food fight, they had to spar with Colonel Kwan for a week.
So because of these rules, and since the Bunker 19 Boys weren't in the same barrack, they followed Lana as she caught her eyes on an empty spot at a table in the back. Everyone in the mess hall were all watching Lana without trying to make it too obvious and Lana had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling as half of the mess hall deflated as she passed their tables. Kwan, Magnar and Bernard followed along behind her, Magnar was sure to be swaggering, Bernard's posture was probably curled in on himself hating all the attention he received from being Lana's friend, and Kwan would be walking stiff backed with no hint of the small smile Lana and Magnar tried to get out of him almost constantly.
Her and her boys.
Lana had chosen the table in the back for the very reason that made the newly promoted Privates' eyes as wide as saucers as she approached them. The general who had broken so many barriers and held the title of youngest general in history and was a woman, they probably were trying to decide their next move when she would reach them.
They were all around the age of sixteen, but she had seen them around for a few years. Anyone wanting to join the Eclisian Army as a commander at some point in their life they had to serve at least five years in the army as an enlisted personnel first. In order to have their sons reach the rank of a well-respected commander by the time they began to look for a wife, many parents would send their son to begin training when they were eleven or twelve so they could be promoted as soon as possible to become a Private and from them on begin the slow and steady climb to more powerful positions. Eclisa had also recently signed a peace treaty with moody Crotte, and their two other small neighboring countries after the last war so there was no need to ever think anyone that had joined the army in the past four years would ever see any sort of major action on the battle field.
Lana gave the boys a nod, hiding her grin as she plopped down on the bench beside a red-head. The blond across the table's eyes slowly returned to a normal state and his lips took on a smirk that she knew all too well— the man that had taught her that smirk sat down next to her, heaving a sigh and then began to eat his breakfast with the grace of a pig. Yet another reason why Magnar's charm had worn off very soon after she had met him.
No one said anything for a few minutes, both Lawrence and Nox finding seats across the table from Lana and Magnar. The new privates eyeing the four of them with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity until the blond broke the silence.
"I thought you were going to be scarier," he said.
Lana mirrored the smirk that had been on his face only seconds before, "Well, Benedict, we all have to be surprised at some point in our lives."
One could have heard a pin drop at that table.
Lana, the general, knew his name.
Lana glanced at Kwan whose lips were turned down just so slightly and whose hands were suddenly not present on the table, a position of his that meant that he had almost laughed. She grinned in triumph as she looked back at the private, Benedict.
"Two surprises in thirty seconds, a record breaker for sure," Magnar said which caused a quiet ripple of laughter from the others around them.
Benedict forced a laugh as Magnar took control of the conversation, chatting to the other boys around him like they had been friends for years—"How's training?" "Where do you have the most bruises?" "What's the square root of 1000?" —Lana just gave them a smile and laughed when it was appropriate, Magnar was the best at talking with people and getting them to like him. She, on the other hand, was not as skilled at getting people to like her but more skilled in just trying to jump over the barriers that the societal snobs she talked to had placed up.
"Of course, Lawrence is more of the type of person to ask about that, right, Kwan?"
"I highly doubt that, given your reputation, Captain."
"Yeah, Magnar, that's your line of work," Nox grumbled. Lana looked between the three boys and found that annoying male glint of challenge in their eyes.
Oh boy.
"Huh, I thought I heard from How—"
"Captain." Her voice was low and quiet, but it made Magnar clamp his mouth shut. "I think we don't need to be talking about a subject like that with the privates."
Of course it was perfectly normal to talk about the subject of women to the privates—to everyone in the army in fact—but the glint in Kwan's eyes had hardened and she hated having Magnar and Kwan fight because they could be at it for hours.
"Yes, ma'am," he responded breaking his stare with Lawrence and launching off onto the topic of which type of jewels look the best on which type of sword.
She didn't meet Kwan's glare as she stood, giving a small smile and a goodbye to the others at the table, and made her way through the emptying tables and through a small door in the wall and almost ran right into the king.