Spring 60: guard

Beloved Zann,

Candur started arranging papers on the table before me. “Sit down, sit down, I can’t stand looking at you hanging off all your bones in pain like that.”

I sat. With some gratitude.

“You’re quite right about the Guard. Everything you said.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked.

“Because I wanted you to see it. And if you couldn’t see it, then you weren’t the man I wanted anyhap.”

I nodded slowly. “And now?”

“As I told you. I’m promoting you to corporal now. Promoting a lot of people. I’ve been hiring new guards and building up our numbers.”

“You have?”

“You haven’t noticed because you’ve always been paired with veterans. But yes, I have.” There had been more names around Sergeant Vasro’s wheel, it was true. “One thing you can do while your wounds are healing is to find more for us. You know what we need.”

I nodded again. “I can do that. I think. But…” It took me a moment to understand what I was trying to ask. “With everything we’ve been talking about, I don’t know what you’re planning. Do you know why the laurans keep us here?”

“I’ve thought about it. It’s hard to know what they’re thinking. I wondered if they wanted to keep some continuity with the Talistags… but they don’t seem to be worrying about that in any other way. My only guess is, they like having some humans nearby that they can order around.”

He then asked me about the people I had worked with. I went through them all, talking about whether I trusted them and what their strengths were. He took notes. “What about… well, what about Trall and Carsaduam and…” I asked.

He smiled. “What do you think?”

I didn’t know. I didn’t think anything.

Candur stood and grandly gestured for me to piss off out of his office. I felt like I knew less than I did when I went in there.

Love,

Ybel