The Stray at the Gate

Dawn hit the Assembly in bright gold, warm enough to promise a good day and loud enough to ruin Roe’s.

He walked behind Aisling with his hands in his pockets, half awake and already suspicious.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” she said pleasantly.

“That sentence has never led to anything good.”

“It’s close.”

“Define close.”

They turned the corner.

Roe stopped.

A massive brick complex rose where Oldtown bled into the industrial district. Tall chimney towers climbed into the sky above a wide hearth-shaped entrance. Copper runes were worked subtly into the masonry, glowing faintly like quiet embers beneath ash.

It did not look like a fortress trying to scare people.

It looked like a place that expected trouble and handled it calmly.

Aisling spread her arms proudly.

“Division Six. HearthGate.”

Roe stared at the building, which had personally betrayed him.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

He slowly turned to leave.

Aisling grabbed him by the collar.

“Aisling no.”

“You’re coming.”

“I can walk.”

“You were walking away.”

“That was a strategic retreat.”

She dragged him anyway.

Inside the base, lanterns warmed the brick halls, and thin wisps of light drifted lazily near the ceiling. The place smelled faintly of cedar and old paper.

It felt less like a military post and more like someone’s living room that happened to fight monsters.

Roe slid his heels against the floor as Aisling hauled him forward.

“I don’t like this.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“I already hate it.”

They passed an open breakroom.

Rachel and Kavi were arguing.

“You ate my breakfast.”

“It was unattended.”

“It was on my desk.”

“It was vulnerable.”

Roe lifted a hand as he passed.

“Hey.”

Both answered automatically.

“Hey.”

“Mutt.”

“Roe.”

Rachel blinked.

Kavi blinked.

Roe blinked.

Rachel spat her drink across the room directly into Kavi’s face.

He stood there dripping.

“I hate this unit.”

Rachel pointed wildly at Roe.

“What are YOU doing here?”

Kavi looked him over like someone inspecting a stray dog that wandered indoors.

“I knew I smelled commoner,” he said flatly. “Didn’t realize they were letting strays inside the building.”

“Don’t call him that!” Rachel snapped.

“If the shoe fits.”

“You don’t even KNOW him!”

“I know a mutt when I see one.”

Roe silently held up a cardboard sign.

HELP ME.

Aisling stopped in front of them.

“You two know him?”

Rachel and Kavi looked at each other.

Then at Roe.

Then back at Aisling.

“Nope,” Rachel said.

“Never seen him before,” Kavi added smoothly.

Aisling narrowed her eyes.

“Then why do you care he’s being dragged?”

Rachel flailed. “He just looks familiar!”

Kavi folded his arms.

“I simply don’t like unknown variables wandering through my workplace.”

Rachel groaned.

“You’re such a jerk.”

Aisling sighed.

“Good talk. Stay out of this.”

She resumed dragging Roe.

He raised the HELP ME sign again.

Rachel reached toward him dramatically.

Kavi pulled her back.

“Let him go,” he muttered. “He’s already dead.”

Aisling shoved Roe through the captain’s office door.

He stumbled, caught himself, and straightened.

Captain Femi sat behind his desk reading through a report.

He did not look up.

“Aisling.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Explain.”

She did.

Briefly.

Femi closed the report and finally looked at Roe.

“So,” he said calmly, “you’re the one who’s been cleaning up situations around the city.”

Roe scratched the back of his neck.

“That’s a generous description.”

Behind him, Rachel and Kavi tried sneaking away down the hallway.

“Rachel. Kavi.”

They froze mid-step.

“Sir,” Rachel said weakly.

“Yo,” Kavi added.

“You knew.”

They slowly turned around.

“I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU!” Rachel cried.

“She was,” Kavi said immediately. “I wasn’t.”

“KAVI!”

“I refuse to fall alone.”

Femi pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’ll deal with you both later.”

They immediately looked like people reconsidering every decision they had ever made.

Then Femi looked back at Roe.

“You’re considering joining the Circle.”

Roe shrugged lightly.

“I’m considering doing something that lasts.”

“You don’t know our customs. Our structure. Our discipline.”

“Correct.”

“And you still think you belong here?”

Roe rubbed the back of his neck.

“I had a grandfather who taught me how to fight, how to cook, and how not to be an idiot. The rest I can learn.”

Rachel leaned toward Kavi.

“He’s about to die.”

Kavi nodded.

“Bold strategy.”

Femi’s eyes never left Roe.

“You are Akilosi.”

Roe nodded once.

“Technically.”

Femi clicked his tongue.

“Kmt.”

“There is no ‘technically’ in blood.”

The room went still.

“You were not raised among our people.”

“You were not trained in our rites.”

“You were not shaped by our discipline.”

Femi leaned back slightly.

“Instead, you were raised by Purani. Not a Purkin in sight.”

The word sounded bitter in his mouth.

“Mixed bloods. Weak farmers. Traders. Laborers. Soft-handed people who survive by making themselves useful.”

“I hate the fact that the president is one of your kind now.”

Rachel stiffened.

“Captain.”

“Quiet.”

She shut her mouth immediately.

Femi continued.

“They fed you. Clothed you. Filled your head with their little lessons.”

“But no structure of a warrior.”

He slowly looked Roe up and down.

“And now you walk in here thinking that makes you one of us.”

Roe said nothing.

Femi shook his head.

“Raatid.”

“You were born with Akilosi blood in your veins and still managed to grow into this.”

He gestured toward Roe like he was pointing at something dirty tracked onto the floor.

“You are not Akilosi.”

“You are not even Purani.”

“To me, you are a being that doesn't exist because you have nowhere to truly belong."

The words landed hard.

“When an Akilosi child is born, no matter what tribe,” Femi said, “they are taught who they are before they ever learn to speak for themselves.”

“They are taught honor.”

“They are taught discipline.”

“They are taught tradition."

His gaze hardened.

“You learned none of it.”

Roe’s hands slowly clenched at his sides.

Femi stepped around the desk.

“You were raised outside the culture. Outside our values.”

“You were shaped by people who do not understand power but take power for granted.”

“You fight without doctrine.”

“You move without command.”

“You play hero in alleyways and marketplaces and think that makes you worthy to stand among warriors.”

Rachel looked furious.

Kavi had gone quiet.

Aisling stood still as stone.

Femi stopped directly in front of Roe.

“You are not a warrior.”

“You are not a soldier.”

“You are a mutt raised by common hands who thinks a few lucky fights make him fit to stand among lions.”

Roe’s jaw tightened.

Femi’s voice dropped lower.

“You do not belong among the Akilosi.”

“And you certainly do not belong in my division.”

“I bet the grandfather who raised you was a weakling, too.”

“Flea-infested mutts must stay together.”

Roe snapped.

“Enough!!”

Femi pointed toward the door.

“I will not have a stray pissing on my leg in my own house.”

“Leave.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Roe stood there for a moment.

Then another.

Rachel looked like she wanted to say something.

Kavi watched him carefully.

Aisling took half a step forward.

Roe swallowed once.

His face had gone still.

He nodded.

“Right.”

He turned.

Walked to the door.

Opened it.

And left.

The door shut behind him.

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

Rachel finally found her voice.

“That was cruel.”

Kavi folded his arms.

Aisling looked at Femi, disgust clear in her face.

“You went too far.”

Femi returned to his desk and opened the report again.

“If that man has any strength in him,” he said calmly, “he will either stand up…”

“Or disappear.”

Rachel frowned.

“So that was a test?”

Femi turned a page.

“No.”

“That was the truth.”

The office stayed quiet.

Outside, the sound of Roe’s footsteps had already faded.