Chapter 11: 11 - Old Friends

“Excuse me, General,” Celarus, the steward over the Lion General’s estate, peeked through the open door of Callida’s study.

“Yes?”

“You have some visitors.”

“Visitors? At this time of night?”

“They said you’re expecting them, so I put them in the receiving room.”

Callida stood up with hopeful suspicion on her face and strapped her weapons belt to her hips on her way to follow Celarus back down the stairs to the parlor, her heart skipping a beat to the familiar mutterings around the corner. And suddenly she was trying not to cry. She’d sent for them a month ago, as soon as Flore and Rogue had left. “You came.” Despite her own quietness, four men silenced and rose to their feet, their towering forms an indication of their bear spirits within. Primordials, she’d missed them.

“Six. Years!” the chubbiest and blondest among them accused. “You couldn’t come up with an excuse to see us in all that time?!” Callida laughed and sobbed all at once, rushing forward to wrap her accuser in a hug. “How’ve you been, Animo?” he asked softly through her mane.

“Buhne, it’s been way, way too long,” she sniffed and pulled back, wiping the dampness from her eyes onto her sleeve. “How have you all been?!”

“Seriously? None of the rest of us get hugged?”

She laughed and allowed herself to be passed around the circle. All of them smelled vaguely of sandalwood mixed with other things that individualized their scents, and Callida was once again teary by the last hug. “Primordials, I can’t believe it’s been six years. Have you guys eaten dinner yet?”

“Not yet,” Buhne supplied for the group.

Callida nodded and turned back to the door. “Celarus, is the kitchen staff still around or have they all gone home for the night?”

“This time in the evening, they're probably on their way home.”

“Mess hall it is, then,” Callida chirped readily and led the way out the door. “Don’t wait up for me, Celarus.”

***

Oh, how she’d missed this! This was the retired Special Forces Reconnaissance and Intelligence Squad 14 — Squad 14 for short. She’d missed her close-knit team from her brief stint in the Bear Tribe military as an eighteen-year-old. She’d missed the odd way that silence felt natural around them like words got in the way of communicating and just being together was enough. She’d missed the camaraderie of a squad of equals in which she wasn’t the commanding officer. Buhne, Spahen, Ablenkung, and Erkunden; codenames: Parrot, Professor, Shield, and Stag, respectively. “Guys, I need the highlights,” Callida declared over dinner. “What are you up to these days?”

Buhne’s crooked smile held a mix of forlorn nostalgia and contented ease. He was the front man of the team and had also taken it upon himself to be the designated voice for the rest of the squad, not that there was any competition for that particular role. “Six years is a lot of ground to cover. ‘Last time we saw you was when Bern died?” He sighed, struggling to dredge up the required history. “Well, Squad 14 remained active until about a year ago? Does that sound right boys?”

“The war against the Resistance officially ended May 784?” Spahen, the team mastermind, frowned. “We were discharged the following summer, August 785.”

Callida snorted. “Well, that leaves you with less than a year to bring you current. Come on, tell me. What sorts of things were you working on during those five years?”

“Looking for you,” Ablenkung, the equipment specialist usually assigned to the background support roles on missions, offered quietly.

“Looking for your brother,” Erkunden, the team scout, paralleled and slouched into his seat with his spoon combing disinterestedly through his stew.

The tension suspended in the silence was telling — the way their faces dropped and zoned out, each dealing with the grief privately. “Hey,” Callida broke the quiet and set a hand on Erkunden’s arm, “I know you did everything that you could to find Germanus.”

“I’m sorry it wasn’t enough.”

“I’ve made peace with it.” She smiled half-heartedly in an effort to be comforting and changed the subject. “So you got discharged last summer; did any of you stay in the military?”

“We’ve all taken adjunct roles that straddle the gaps between our former lives and our military experience,” Buhne said with a shrug.

“What does that mean?”

“Well, as you know, I was a merchant’s son before I joined the military. Now I help broker deals between the military and merchant suppliers. Spahen was grandfathered into the Council of Elders and has been advocating for veteran interests and tribe security. Ablenkung has gone back to being a blacksmith full time, but he has a standing contract with the military. And Erkunden returned to being a professional hunter, but my understanding is that he keeps an eye on some of the more remote areas of the tribe. Actually, Erkunden, are you still functioning as a peripheral contact in the intelligence network?”

Erkunden smirked. “You know that I can neither confirm nor deny such a thing, Buhne.”

“So that’s a ‘yes’. Figures,” Buhne grumbled with vague jealousy.

“Oh, by the way, Animo, General Gutig sends his regards,” Erkunden added cheekily.

Callida rolled her eyes. “Has his new successor been declared yet? I know he came out of retirement after Germanus got captured.”

“He’s working on it,” Erkunden confirmed. “Gutig likes gentle transitions. You remember how long he groomed Germanus before making things official.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Well, what about personal updates?”

The boys chuckled and collectively turned to Buhne, giving him first dibs. “I got married,” he said casually, but his grin was loaded with a happiness that was impossible to overlook. “Her name’s Treu, and we are expecting a baby in about four months.”

An involuntary squeal of delight escaped Callida’s throat. “You got married and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Oh, and look who’s talking!” Buhne returned her tease-laced accusation. “You’re the one who eloped without telling anyone, and then instead of announcing that you were married, you simply changed your name! You have no idea how confusing it was to suddenly learn that the Lion General’s name was General Yudha. We had to submit a formal inquiry to confirm that you hadn’t been replaced or killed or something.”

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Callida cheesed sheepishly and deflected. “So when did you get married?”

“‘Year and a half ago.”

“Aw! Well, congratulations!”

“Thanks.”

“What about the rest of you?” Callida asked, turning next to Spahen who shrugged.

“Technically, I have a girlfriend. My grandfather picked her out for me.”

“‘A fellow aristocrat?”

“Yeah,” Spahen sighed.

“You seem thrilled,” Callida snorted. “What’s her name?”

“Ehrste. She’s… fine.”

“But…?” she probed.

“I don’t know. I just don’t have feelings for her. She’s a good person, but without my grandfather setting us up and pushing us together, ‘never would have happened.”

“Hm. There isn’t someone else, is there?”

“What do you mean?” Spahen frowned, but the pink tinging his ears undermined his intentional casualness.

“What’s her name?” Callida sing-songed. Spahen’s face twisted while the rest of the squad tuned in more intently, surprise lifting their brows. “Come on, Professor. Who is she?”

“Her name’s Netti,” he mumbled almost inaudibly. “She’s Ehrste’s handmaid.”

“Oh ho!” Callida crowed behind her hand, an indelicate chuckle spreading through the rest of the squad and deepening Spahen’s blush. “Mm. That’s spicy. Have you told her?”

“I think she knows,” he growled in annoyance.

“Oh?” An eyebrow quirked above a twinkling eye. “How would she know?”

“Well, because I… I sort of kissed her… once… you know, whatever!” He flopped back in his seat, arms crossing petulantly against the roars of laughter from his comrades.

“I think you’d better break up with Ehrste and tell Netti properly,” Callida said once her laughter was reined in again. “Alright, Ablenkung. What’s your update?”

“‘Nothin’ to tell,” he shrugged, mirth still making the corners of his eyes crinkle. “‘Still single and unattached.”

“‘Any interests?”

“No. Not really. I’ve been enjoying having a proper forge again. ‘Started dabbling in jewelry smithing and family crest ring design.”

“I could see you being really good at that.” Callida nodded approvingly as he closed out by way of an indifferent shrug. “You’re last, Erkunden. How’ve you been?”

“‘Can’t complain. I, uh, I actually haven’t told the boys this yet. I was saving it to tell you all together…”

“Tell us what?!” Callida demanded with an excited squeak.

“I got married last month.”

“You what?!” Erkunden laughed while accepting the friendly shoulder punches and playful indignation. “Who’s the girl?!”

“Delila is her name. She’s a girl I’ve gotten to know this last year. My hunting route takes me through her village a couple times a month, and… I like her?”

Callida snorted. “You like her?”

“Ok. I like her a lot.”

“Enough to marry her, apparently.”

“Yeah,” Erkunden grinned and dropped his gaze bashfully.

“So, Animo,” Buhne said while fixing her with a pointed gaze, “you’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Do I?” she smirked.

“Mhm. Give us your six year update.”

“Oh…” Callida buzzed her lips as she sank into her chair to give it some thought. “Well, I quit the whole bodyguard thing and was assigned a battalion. ‘Got deployed to the front lines, got captured for a year, came back, took a series of promotions, became the Lion General, uncovered a conspiracy to end the Great War against the Resistance, got married, finished off the war with the griffins…. Yup. That sums things up.”

“Yeah. No big deal,” Buhne snorted. “You’ve been busy.”

“Always. I don’t think that honestly surprises you though.”

“No. You have a knack for finding trouble, Beta. ‘Always have.”

Callida smiled to hear her old codename again. “Thanks again for coming. I’ve missed you guys.”

Her old squad exchanged cryptic glances before Buhne leaned forward and lowered his voice. “We’ve all guessed that you didn’t invite us here for a family reunion.”

“Not here,” Callida confirmed their suspicions and ended the conversation simultaneously. “Could I entice you all with some dessert at my place after dinner?”

***

“Dessert” was served in her private study on the second floor of the Lion General’s estate after Callida checked to make sure that all of the estate servants had gone home for the day. Like much of the rest of the estate, Callida’s study was richly furnished and boasted walls of built-in shelving cluttered with old tomes and expensive trinkets that had been passed down through the many successions of Lion Generals.

Directing Squad 14 to a collection of seating near a great hearth, Callida opened the briefing. “All cards on the table, I called you here to ask for your help.”

“We figured,” Buhne replied after exchanging a few glances and chuckles with the rest of the guys. “What’s the mission?”

“‘Looking for evidence of a conspiracy within the Lion Tribe court or at least those close to the crown.”

A moment spent processing passed before Spahen chimed in. “What sort of conspiracy?”

“A conspiracy to prevent the Lion King from fathering an heir by sabotaging his wife’s pregnancies,” Callida said.

“What is the justification for this investigation?” Spahen probed.

“The young queen has lost five pregnancies in the last two to three years, three of them in the late second or early third trimesters. All five pregnancies were perfectly healthy up until the point that she started spontaneously hemorrhaging.”

“Poison?” Buhne asked with a dark scowl.

“That seems a likely culprit.” Callida nodded. “However, whatever the poison is, doctors have been unable to identify it in the queen’s body nor in any obvious food or product that could serve to deliver the poison. We have our work cut out for us, gentlemen,” Callida said and stood up to pace while she unraveled the current situation. “I’ve been… poking the hornet’s nest. Last month, I secretly sent the queen on a retreat for her health to get her out of harm’s way. After the fact, I declared as much to the king’s council. As you might expect, they weren’t very happy with me, and some of their reactions were suspicious given the rest of the circumstances. I have a list of councilmen that I want to investigate first, but if we can’t find anything among them…. I’m not even sure where else to look. We’re either going to get lucky, or we’re going to have to eventually start over from scratch. My biggest problem is they know me and they know my men.”

“So you need some faces they won’t recognize or tie back to you,” Spahen continued the thought.

“Exactly,” Callida said with a sigh and slouched back into her seat.

“Have you made a plan for how to position us?” Ablenkung asked.

“Only a very loose one. Spahen, you will be going in as yourself as you have experience serving in the Council of Elders. One of our councilmen retired last month. At my urging, Verum has accepted a foreign councilman to serve as a placeholder for the position in the name of diplomacy while he deliberates on who to invite into his court permanently. You will be going in as that placeholder.”

“You’ve been planning this for a while then,” Spahen said with a frown. “I didn’t exactly pack the wardrobe to serve as a member of the Lion King’s council.”

“I have people who can help with that,” Callida said with a small laugh. “For the rest of you, the plan is to find employment at the palace in different capacities. I need eyes and ears in the places I can’t infiltrate with soldiers, but I’m open to ideas on how to get your eyes and ears into those places.”

“Do we need to be officially employed? Or can we get away with merely being officially uniformed?” Buhne asked.

“I don’t know. That’s a valid point, and one that I’ve already considered at least somewhat. The benefit of being officially employed is, in a long-term sting operation, which my guess is that this will take a while, you’ll develop actual relationships with other palace employees that can help you expand the net for your intelligence gathering. Even just regularly flirting with the gossipy maids could yield important breakthroughs.”

Spahen nodded agreement and started fidgeting with the large family crest ring on his finger while he pondered. “I take it then that once we are in position, we’ll need to maintain minimal contact with each other and especially with you. We’ll need to autonomously collect information and follow our own leads until we have something concrete.”

“That’s right. No contact. If one of you gets burned, just walk out so the rest of the team doesn’t burn with you. We can slip notes to each other in passing, and only risk that if you find something specific and significant or you need to coordinate a sting. Obviously, use your best judgment,” Callida confirmed. “Now, let’s figure out where to position the rest of you.”