Part XCV: Abrasive Clashes
Date: Kapton 7th, 114 A.U.
Zarien waited as his ship pulled into the docking base of the rebel’s homeship before stepping out, side-by-side with Hazael as they walked down the corridor to give the debriefing to Rezja. He had been out for the past week-and-a-half gathering intel and secretly visiting their rebel bases in three different places, finding out what they had and restocking them with weapons. This was the kind of work Zarien liked doing—actually doing something physically meaningful rather than going on treasure hunts for the Arglem.
Zarien didn’t regret his decision to join the Xavier Team, but he’d much rather to be able to physically see the work and progress he was making with material gain as they continued to build up the network of elven and orcish rebels against the Emperor rather than trying to find various objects to help defeat him. They entered into the main chamber as Rezja was discussing something with Sereth. She sent a sideways glance their way as Rezja looked up to see them.
“Ah, greetings!” Rezja said. “How did the mission go?”
“The mission went well,” Zarien said. “We’ve compiled our reports on the three rebel groups we visited and have sent them into the database that you can access. We have likewise given them all the weapons that they requested and things seem to be running well.”
“Good,” Rezja said. “We just got word back from Lord Freglak after sending a message to him at your request, Zarien. He has agreed to ally with us and to assist each other in whatever means necessary. Sereth and I were just preparing and figuring out which information would be the most beneficial for him to use.”
“I see,” Zarien said, looking at the files at the computer next to the two of them.
“The goblin lord send us a strange reply,” Sereth said. “He’s very demanding as well.”
“Nevertheless, his assistance will be quite invaluable to our cause,” Rezja replied. “I just wish that we would be able to get people down to get in touch with the Resistance soon. As of yet, we have been met with a lot of difficulty in contacting them.”
“They have a quite elaborate security system,” Zarien replied. “I’ve seen it, so I know. Didn’t look into it with much detail though, so I have no idea how to contact them.” After briefly going over the details of what happened in their trip, the trio left, leaving Rezja alone to sort out which information would be the most useful to Freglak. Exiting the chamber, they came to an intersection in the hall.
“I head over to mess hall,” Hazael said. “You come, Zarien?”
Zarien shook his head. “I’d like to be able to talk to Cortna first as I haven’t seen her in two weeks, seeing as I didn’t get to see her before we left.”
Sereth bit her lip. “Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll bring you to our room, Zarien. We’ll meet up with you soon, Hazael.” And with that, they walked down the hallway as they parted company from Hazael. Zarien couldn’t see why Sereth was so annoyed at his request. What was so wrong about wanting to talk to Cortna? For some reason, ever since they had first met, Sereth seemed to have something against Zarien and seemed to be rather possessive of her sister. Zarien still couldn’t figure her out.
Stopping at one of the doors, Sereth fiddled in her pockets for a key and then, fishing it out, unlocked the door to walk into it. Cortna was sitting on a stool, a paint brush in her hand, intermittently jabbing at the canvas in front of her before getting more paint on the brush. Zarien looked at the garbled mess of a drawing that she had made, which looked close to being an actual picture of something, but garbled enough that Zarien couldn’t make out what it was,
“What-“ Zarien began.
“It’s one of the therapy methods that one of our doctors suggested she do to bide the time,” Sereth said quickly. “Supposed to make her use the other side of the brain more instead of being all strict and programmed on account of Jaigran’s redoctoring. It would be best not to disturb her.”
Zarien stepped forward, leaning to the side to catch a glimpse of Cortna’s eyes as she stared intently at the canvas in front of her, moving the paint brush to grab more paint before jabbing again at the canvas.
“Hello Cortna,” Zarien said. Cortna turned to stare blankly at him before looking back at the canvas.
“Don’t disturb her!” Sereth reminded him.
“I haven’t seen her in weeks,” Zarien said, stepping closer to Cortna.
“So?!” Sereth hissed. “That doesn’t mean you can just barge in here and demand your own way.”
“I’m not doing that,” Zarien said defensively. “I just want to be able to talk to her; maybe I’ll be able to help.”
Sereth simmered. “Fine. Go ahead. Talk to her.”
“Can’t we have some privacy?” Zarien asked. He knew what to try to talk to Cortna about, what might make her the most likely to remember him, but he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it while Sereth was hovering like a raven ready to swoop down on her prey.
“This is my room,” Sereth said through gritted teeth. “What do you want to tell her that I can’t listen to? This is my sister after all.”
“We had been ‘dating’ for a couple months before she was captured,” Zarien reminded her. “You’re not the only one that can lay a claim to her.”
“Oh yes, so you just get to come in her and usurp authority from me,” Sereth snapped. “You know—all you did for her was to allow her to get captured and re-doctrinated by the Emperor. I’m the one who saved her from her captivity.”
“You think I’m to blame for that?!” Zarien retorted. “We were a group—a faithful alliance back in the Mothership. I lost my leg because of what I was doing. We all went into the situation well aware of the dangers that we’d be risking as part of a rebel group, just like you took risks to join this one.”
“I’m the one who saved her, and I’m going to make sure that she recovers,” Sereth said. “And just because you might have been dating her before she got indoctrinated, that doesn’t mean that you can just barge in right now and take control.”
“You think I’m barging in?” Zarien asked. “Look, is my request really so hard? I just want to be able to see Cortna and be able to talk to her without you always ready to seize on whatever words I say. Is that really too hard to ask?”
“Yes,” Sereth snapped. “Now if you want to say something, say it now.”
Zarien’s expression darkened. “Fine. Be that way, Sereth,” he snapped, marching to the door. “Fill her mind with everything you want and refuse to let anyone else help. You know, I did think we were allies here. But no—Sereth just wants her own way, like she always does. Well you can just be that way. Show how selfish you are without any cost. You know—I lost my leg in my battle against the Emperor. Your sister lost her mind. It would be nice for you to show some self-sacrifice for a change.”
Date: Kapton 7th, 114 A.U.
Zarien waited as his ship pulled into the docking base of the rebel’s homeship before stepping out, side-by-side with Hazael as they walked down the corridor to give the debriefing to Rezja. He had been out for the past week-and-a-half gathering intel and secretly visiting their rebel bases in three different places, finding out what they had and restocking them with weapons. This was the kind of work Zarien liked doing—actually doing something physically meaningful rather than going on treasure hunts for the Arglem.
Zarien didn’t regret his decision to join the Xavier Team, but he’d much rather to be able to physically see the work and progress he was making with material gain as they continued to build up the network of elven and orcish rebels against the Emperor rather than trying to find various objects to help defeat him. They entered into the main chamber as Rezja was discussing something with Sereth. She sent a sideways glance their way as Rezja looked up to see them.
“Ah, greetings!” Rezja said. “How did the mission go?”
“The mission went well,” Zarien said. “We’ve compiled our reports on the three rebel groups we visited and have sent them into the database that you can access. We have likewise given them all the weapons that they requested and things seem to be running well.”
“Good,” Rezja said. “We just got word back from Lord Freglak after sending a message to him at your request, Zarien. He has agreed to ally with us and to assist each other in whatever means necessary. Sereth and I were just preparing and figuring out which information would be the most beneficial for him to use.”
“I see,” Zarien said, looking at the files at the computer next to the two of them.
“The goblin lord send us a strange reply,” Sereth said. “He’s very demanding as well.”
“Nevertheless, his assistance will be quite invaluable to our cause,” Rezja replied. “I just wish that we would be able to get people down to get in touch with the Resistance soon. As of yet, we have been met with a lot of difficulty in contacting them.”
“They have a quite elaborate security system,” Zarien replied. “I’ve seen it, so I know. Didn’t look into it with much detail though, so I have no idea how to contact them.” After briefly going over the details of what happened in their trip, the trio left, leaving Rezja alone to sort out which information would be the most useful to Freglak. Exiting the chamber, they came to an intersection in the hall.
“I head over to mess hall,” Hazael said. “You come, Zarien?”
Zarien shook his head. “I’d like to be able to talk to Cortna first as I haven’t seen her in two weeks, seeing as I didn’t get to see her before we left.”
Sereth bit her lip. “Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll bring you to our room, Zarien. We’ll meet up with you soon, Hazael.” And with that, they walked down the hallway as they parted company from Hazael. Zarien couldn’t see why Sereth was so annoyed at his request. What was so wrong about wanting to talk to Cortna? For some reason, ever since they had first met, Sereth seemed to have something against Zarien and seemed to be rather possessive of her sister. Zarien still couldn’t figure her out.
Stopping at one of the doors, Sereth fiddled in her pockets for a key and then, fishing it out, unlocked the door to walk into it. Cortna was sitting on a stool, a paint brush in her hand, intermittently jabbing at the canvas in front of her before getting more paint on the brush. Zarien looked at the garbled mess of a drawing that she had made, which looked close to being an actual picture of something, but garbled enough that Zarien couldn’t make out what it was,
“What-“ Zarien began.
“It’s one of the therapy methods that one of our doctors suggested she do to bide the time,” Sereth said quickly. “Supposed to make her use the other side of the brain more instead of being all strict and programmed on account of Jaigran’s redoctoring. It would be best not to disturb her.”
Zarien stepped forward, leaning to the side to catch a glimpse of Cortna’s eyes as she stared intently at the canvas in front of her, moving the paint brush to grab more paint before jabbing again at the canvas.
“Hello Cortna,” Zarien said. Cortna turned to stare blankly at him before looking back at the canvas.
“Don’t disturb her!” Sereth reminded him.
“I haven’t seen her in weeks,” Zarien said, stepping closer to Cortna.
“So?!” Sereth hissed. “That doesn’t mean you can just barge in here and demand your own way.”
“I’m not doing that,” Zarien said defensively. “I just want to be able to talk to her; maybe I’ll be able to help.”
Sereth simmered. “Fine. Go ahead. Talk to her.”
“Can’t we have some privacy?” Zarien asked. He knew what to try to talk to Cortna about, what might make her the most likely to remember him, but he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it while Sereth was hovering like a raven ready to swoop down on her prey.
“This is my room,” Sereth said through gritted teeth. “What do you want to tell her that I can’t listen to? This is my sister after all.”
“We had been ‘dating’ for a couple months before she was captured,” Zarien reminded her. “You’re not the only one that can lay a claim to her.”
“Oh yes, so you just get to come in her and usurp authority from me,” Sereth snapped. “You know—all you did for her was to allow her to get captured and re-doctrinated by the Emperor. I’m the one who saved her from her captivity.”
“You think I’m to blame for that?!” Zarien retorted. “We were a group—a faithful alliance back in the Mothership. I lost my leg because of what I was doing. We all went into the situation well aware of the dangers that we’d be risking as part of a rebel group, just like you took risks to join this one.”
“I’m the one who saved her, and I’m going to make sure that she recovers,” Sereth said. “And just because you might have been dating her before she got indoctrinated, that doesn’t mean that you can just barge in right now and take control.”
“You think I’m barging in?” Zarien asked. “Look, is my request really so hard? I just want to be able to see Cortna and be able to talk to her without you always ready to seize on whatever words I say. Is that really too hard to ask?”
“Yes,” Sereth snapped. “Now if you want to say something, say it now.”
Zarien’s expression darkened. “Fine. Be that way, Sereth,” he snapped, marching to the door. “Fill her mind with everything you want and refuse to let anyone else help. You know, I did think we were allies here. But no—Sereth just wants her own way, like she always does. Well you can just be that way. Show how selfish you are without any cost. You know—I lost my leg in my battle against the Emperor. Your sister lost her mind. It would be nice for you to show some self-sacrifice for a change.”
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