Claim

Valeria came into view across the plains. Yuri pointed ahead. “There it is.”

“Commander Mercer will probably be relieved to get some of his authority back once he hears we returned.”

Yuri nudged Nash with an elbow. “And you’ll be relieved to see Sarah, huh?”

“You’ve got it the other way around.”

“You haven’t seen her since I assigned you to clean the Valeria base bathrooms.”

“That was a stupid assignment.”

“You looked like you wanted to see my sister, so I helped.”

Khyrie leaned slightly toward Nash to catch a glimpse of his face. “Are you getting red?”

“We’ve been walking for almost two days with barely any breaks, of course I’m red!”

Kiel smirked. “That sounds unrelated.”

“It’s related. Chena, tell him.”

"Chena talking to you is only going to make you redder," Khyrie said.

“I agree with Kiel.”

“Chena!”

The argument carried on around Warui, but he walked quietly beside them until their voices faded into background noise.

Varis.

The word had refused to leave him.

The staircase returned first, stone steps beneath unfamiliar feet, followed by the ceremonial courtyard and the four children waiting there: three boys and one girl.

“Varis!”

“Finally! We’re all here.”

Then the operative.

"The kid… he’s the missing inheritance."

Is that what they meant?

“Cut it out now,” Yuri said, ending the conversation. “We’re bringing our findings straight to Commander Mercer.”

An hour later, Mercer sat behind his desk with the reconnaissance squad gathered opposite him.

Yuri was ahead of their formation. “What?! Whoever murdered the officials is someone similar to Warui?”

Warui's mind drifted.

Someone like me?

“Though that still doesn’t tell us what ‘missing inheritance’ means.” Mercer looked down at the reports on his desk. “Or whether that phrase is connected to the birth records and screening tests involving children born in year five-fifty-one.”

“That would explain how somebody could’ve entered the prison the way they did, but according to everything we’ve recorded, Warui’s blade can’t cause destruction like that.”

“Then perhaps we’re wrong. Or perhaps whoever did it is different from him.

“We’ll continue investigating—”

“Then wouldn’t Orienne have answers, sir?”

Everyone went still, their attention shifting to Warui.

“Their message sounds like they know what I might be. Maybe they didn’t trust information like that being sent over such a long distance. If we were to go there ourselves—”

"That isn’t my decision to make. Sending you and a small number of soldiers to Orienne seems like the obvious answer, but everyone else considers it irrational. Including the interim officials. Commander Dirk and I discussed it with them two days ago.

"We are to take Orienne’s warning seriously. Warui will be protected and kept hidden. That makes Callineth our immediate priority while the investigation continues.”

“How do you plan to approach it, considering what we saw there?” Yuri asked.

“We’ll—”

“We’ll take it back.” The room went quiet. Warui hadn’t meant for the words to come out so hard. “They have no rightful claim over the land, sir.”

“Neither do we.”

“But there’s nothing they can do if Tiria decides to claim it.”

Chena kept her focus on Warui. Beside her, Khyrie and Kiel shared a brief look, while Nash and Yuri remained silent.

“We’d be restoring the town. Protecting it. We wouldn’t be the only ones benefiting.”

"Those people are from the Kingdom of Orienne,” Mercer said as he stood. “We cannot act recklessly. Even if we possess the sheer force necessary to take Callineth, that sends the wrong message to every country that hears about it. I’d hate for it to appear in Tiria’s history books too."

By the time Mercer reached the door, his decision was clear. “Now that you’ve returned, Callineth may be classified as beyond my command since it's a gap in our borders. I’ll have to bring this to Commander Dirk and the interim administration.”

He paused in the doorway. “But I do know this. I’m not turning another people’s home into a battlefield.” Mercer left, and the door shut behind him.

Khyrie turned immediately toward Warui. “Are you seriously suggesting Tiria take Callineth by force?”

“It took those people two years to build four cabins. One person is hauling their ammunition and firearms around on a wagon. We’d be helping them.”

"That barely answered Khyrie’s question," Nash said.

Chena’s voice came quietly from beside Warui. “And if they don’t want our help?”

Warui turned to her immediately. Chena wasn’t looking at his face, her head lowered slightly.

“We can say and think whatever we want,” Yuri said as she opened the door. “But the Commander made himself clear. If Callineth is outside his authority, our opinions don’t decide anything. And if he does have authority over the decision… he isn’t using force.”

Twenty minutes later on the streets of Valeria, Nash walked beside Yuri in silence for several minutes before he finally exhaled. “I’m not sure I agree with what Warui said.”

“Would you have agreed if we hadn’t spent time with the people living there?”

“When I see all the children living in the foster homes my parents own, I hate it. Not the kids, and not that my parents own the buildings. Their situations.

“Sometimes they can’t safely live with their biological parents, or their adoptive ones. Sometimes they’ve just been abandoned. Thinking about taking Micah’s home, his grandma’s, all those people just farming and building cabins… I get that same taste in my mouth.”

“What if they agree to Tiria’s reconstruction plan?”

“I hope that’s what happens.”

Neither said anything for a moment.

“Nash! Yuri!” Sarah came running toward them, drawing both of their attention her way.

Yuri patted Nash on the upper back. “Lighten up.”

Nash rubbed the back of his neck and waved lightly. “Hey.”

Yuri looked over Sarah once she reached them. “You alright?”

“Yeah. It's just been a long couple of days.” Then she caught the smell and recoiled. “Ugh. And apparently, yours were worse.”

“We’ve sort of been walking for two days, in case you forgot.”

“Hygiene is still a thing, Nash.”

“So do you want us to shower, or go to the shooting range?”

“We won’t beat her. There's no point.”

Yuri leaned toward Nash and whispered, "I’m helping you."

Sarah was already walking away. “Shooting range is a higher priority.”

“I’m capable of talking,” Nash told Yuri before hurrying after Sarah. “Wait up!”

The sun sank beyond the wall bordering the training grounds as Warui sat on a crate between Chena and River. For a while, none of them said much.

River picked at a splinter of wood. "I knew there could be people living in Callineth."

Warui watched River's fingers worrying at the wood.

“But for some reason I doubted it actually would be.”

“Why?” Chena asked.

“I wanted to believe we could rebuild Callineth without any problems. It sits near Tiria’s border, and honestly, it’s such a random patch of land. I figured a bunch of ruined buildings wouldn’t appeal to anyone passing through."

“If we get a chance to negotiate with the people living there, you can still believe there won’t be any pushback,” Chena said gently.

A little hope returned to River's eyes.

“We saw it ourselves. They’re just living their lives after fleeing a terrible situation in Orienne. And Tiria has good intentions. I think they’d come around.”

Warui’s voice was firmer. “And if they don’t?”

“"we’d have to figure something else out."

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, Warui, but them saying no has to mean something.”

“It was our home first.”

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t theirs now too.” Chena’s answer was quiet, and the words lingered between them.

River stopped picking at the crate. “I want Callineth back, but those kids… those people.” River looked across the training grounds. “They probably just call it home... like we did.”

The silence held as the three remained together and the sun slipped behind the wall.