Stoatorian Guard Open The Trenches The Prodigal Son Returns

[Caden S. Freemont]

Not much had changed in Bully Harbor. The streets still stank. The beasts were still either overly friendly or rude--or somehow both simultaneously. The non-fish fishsticks were as greasy as they had been, yet completely irresistible. Somebeasts had tried to pick his pockets multiple times. And the Ministry of War building still caused Caden Freemont to feel a mixture of emotions that caught in his throat and made his eyes water in a way that could not be attributed simply to the stench of whatever floated past in the gutter.

Clearing his throat and removing his glasses momentarily to wipe his eyes, the albino pine marten wrapped the sturdy, wire spectacles back over his ears before joining the flow of beasts coming and going from the Ministry building.

After a series of directions from various beasts to get him to the right place, he came to stand in front of a bored-looking rat, a clerical-type at a desk in an open corridor where others passed to and fro. Caden unslung his bag from his shoulder and withdrew a stack of paperwork to set on the rat's desk. He began to speak, found his voice caught with sudden nerves, coughed, and tried again.

"I'm here for a position in the Ministry. I have an extensive resume that I believe you'll find intriguing."

The rat raised her brow and skimmed the top piece of parchment. She frowned and clicked her teeth. "Caden Sken Freemont," she said, looking up at him in question.

He nodded. Gates, if only he had kept anything from either of his parents to prove his identity. Then again, his father's surname was not exactly beloved in the Imperium's history.

"Did someone put you up to this?" The rat glanced around behind him. "Look, the Phil the Hobo prank was bad enough. Can't you lot just let me do my job in peace?"

Caden rubbed his whiskers. "Phil the--?" He stopped, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, miss, this isn't a prank. My name is Caden Sken Freemont, and yes, that Sken. I simply wish to speak to a superior about a job in the Ministry."

 

[Eirene Liu]

"As do I." She was an older ferret, maybe in her mid fifties, certainly old enough that she should not have been seeking a new job. She had a smaller stack of papers with her than Caden's, but had still dressed in a neat white shirt, black vest, and dark gray woolen trousers that matched well with her dark mask and gray fur. She looked a bit anxiously between the clerk and Caden as she spoke, her voice tinged with a Hanshiman accent. "Is dis not de place for job applying? I come because I want to be a guard. Dat is what you do here, yes?"

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden made an effort to turn his scowl into something resembling a smile as the newcomer ferret looked between him and the clerk. He was not sure he was successful.

"I believe that's what they do here, right?" His attempt at a joke landed flat. The rat huffed in irritation.

"This is indeed where you apply for a job. However, I am uncertain that you, sir, are seriously inquiring about a position or simply trying to have a laugh at my expense." She turned her attention to the ferret, holding out a paw for her paperwork. "I will take that, thank you."

 

[Duchess Dusk Rainblade]

Eirene Liu raised an eyebrow as she looked over the pine marten. He certainly looked like he had a warrior's build, and she could see enough nicks here and there to indicate significant battle experience, or at least intense training. "He looks like a warrior to me," she noted. "Why would be be a joke? Is dis how de Ministry treats its applicants?" She handed over her resume, wondering if there was something she was missing. It had been a brief window in which she'd been active in Bully Harbor thirty years ago, and most of that had been focused on her Bezine and on her work for the Verfolger. The Ministry of War hadn't been much of a target at the time, so she wasn't sure what to make of this behavior now.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Taking the paperwork from Eirene, the rat placed it atop Caden's stack and smoothed it out. "This is not--I am simply trying to verify the veracity of his very improbable claim. We take the treatment of our applicants very seriously." She was silent several moments as she shifted through the ferret's paperwork, eyes darting back and forth across the pages.

Caden rocked back on his heels while he waited and turned to address Eirene. "I don't mean to pry, but your accent, is that Hanshiman? I've worked off and on with some Hanshiman beasts over the years."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene looked surprised that the marten had recognized it. "Yes, it is," she confirmed. "I am from nor'de Hanshima, in de mountains. You have ever been?" She glanced at the clerk before lowering her voice. "And why is your name a prob'lem? Your family is... zenme shuo... Bad famous?"

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"I've been to Hanshima, aye." Caden nodded. "The mountains there are beautiful. Though I swear I still have blisters on my footpaws from a few long treks on some of those high altitude trails." He chuckled. "As far as my family goes--"

The rat cleared her throat. "Your experience is extensive, Miss Liu. I can pass you along to my superiors for an interview process." She pointedly did not look at Caden. He quirked a brow and tilted his head towards his resume.

"And what of mine? I would like to speak to your superiors about my credentials." Stepping in towards the desk, he leaned a paw on the surface and angled himself so that he subtly loomed over the rat. It was a small maneuver as intimidation went, but the way his body was loosely tensed, the stillness in his shoulders, neck, and face, the direct and unflinching stare of his red eyes, were akin to the behavior of a predator preparing to strike.

"This is not a joke, my friend. Think about your options. If I am not who I say I am and you send me to your superiors, you are simply going to be laughed at by whoever set up this whole scheme. However, if I am indeed the beast whose name graces my paperwork, is denying me access to further inquiry into a position in this Ministry in your best interest? One could argue that the Imperium owes its continued existence to the legacy of my mother's life and death, and those who worked alongside her during the Winter War." He paused, blinking finally and straightening as he stepped away from the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I do not wish to use her legacy as my foothold here, and as you can see in my information, my experience speaks for itself. However, I will say with confidence that I can make acquaintances with the Minister of War in his office within minutes if I care to. I grew up in this building, and I know every inch of the place--all the hidden passageways and tunnels and safe rooms. My coming to you is a polite formality. I would hope that you would pay me the same respect of allowing me to take part in the proper hiring process."

The clerk's paws twitched. She did not look so much cowed as resigned. She passed Eirene's papers back to her. After a hesitant breath, she handed Caden's back to him. "Yes, well, welcome back to the Ministry of War, Caden Freemont, if that is indeed who you actually are."

He grinned at her, teeth gleaming white in the lantern light of the hallway. "Thank you. Very kind of you." Before she could direct them, he pointed down the hall. "We go this way, correct? Around the corner and second door on the left."

She tapped her pen on the desk in annoyance. "Yes, that's correct."

"Gates," Caden laughed. "Everything can change while some things still stay the same. Has time even passed?"

He began making his way down the hall, glancing over his shoulder to Eirene. "Miss Liu, was it? I'm Caden."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene Liu listened in surprise to the marten proverbially tearing the hapless clerk a new hole in her throat. She'd seen power plays before, and then there was... whatever that was. She shot the clerk a slightly sympathetic smile as the latter relented and approved them both to proceed, then followed after Caden, hurrying to keep up. "Pleasure to meet you," she returned the greeting, pleased with how she'd managed to get the alveolar sound after the labial p correct. It had taken a long time to stop mixing up her l and r phonemes, and even now, she had to think hard to make sure she was doing it correctly.

She hesitated before offering, "I was in de Winter War. I know de sacrifice your mo'der made. It was very brave of her." She didn't add what she and Bezine both knew, but had kept secret for thirty years: that the blast that had leveled a good chunk of Bully Harbor, taking both Coalition and Imperial forces with it, had been an Imperial weapon, not Raulish. The so-called 'Raulish Flame' had been a grizzly last defense of the Imperium, not a horrific war crime by the Coalition. Eirene wondered if the younger lad here understood the real reason his mother died.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden paused mid-step, allowing Eirene to track just ahead of him. He blew out a breath, then caught up to her with a long stride. When he responded, his tone was carefully level. "Sacrifice and bravery, yes. She was a complex beast, my mother. Honestly, I know more of her from what beasts have told me than any solid memories of my own of her. She died--the second time--when I was quite young.

"But you fought in the Winter War?" he continued. "In what capacity did you serve?"

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene paused, trying to figure out how to handle that question. She resumed walking and caught up, but kept her head bowed. Well, if they ran her file through the Ministry of Misanthropy, it would probably be figured out sooner or later. "I was a Verfolger," she admitted. "I fought in de tunnels - far enough away dat de blast did not get me, good for me, but many o'ders died." A small look of shame crossed her face as she admitted, "A while after de war, I leaved de cult. It was a Vulpinsulan who rescued me from de cult, helped me leave. I owe her my life." It was a vast oversimplification of her relationship with Bezine. They'd tried to kill each other a dozen or so times in the middle, and admittedly fought more times than she could count since. Their 'old married couple' arguments tended to be very hard on the furniture.

She glanced over at him as she admitted, "Sometimes is hard to admit tings in de past we no want to remember, when we no were our best selves. Is hard to remember we no are dat beast now."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

The pair turned the corner down the side hallway. It was quieter there than the main passage, only several Guards at the far end of the hall on a break, playing a game of twenny wah at a corner table. Caden reached out and grasped the ferret's shoulder, stopping her so that they stood face to face. His expression was an unreadable scowl, but she did not sense any malicious intent or the telltale coiled energy of a prepared attack through his contact with her. He dropped his paw back to his side and glanced away. Caden closed his eyes and shook his head, tension leaving his shoulders.

When he returned his gaze to Eirene, there was sadness in his expression. "Many others did die. Both in the war and after. You were there, so you know just as well as I what happened in those tunnels, and not the story known by most of the Imperium." He ran a paw through his headfur.

"You're right, we live our lives and who we were decades past is not who we are now. If you had told me your story before I left the Imperium, I would have started a brawl with you right here in this hall. Now, though?" He lifted his stack of papers. "I have twenty years' experience of fighting in other beasts' wars and doing the dirty work of those who didn't want to sully their paws. It would be hypocritical of me to call out a beast who was fighting for legitimate belief. At least you had a cause you thought was just. I was simply out for personal gain, notoriety, and coin."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene tensed as the marten stopped her with a paw on her shoulder, bracing for an attack - but none came, only words of surprising wisdom. She nodded in understanding of his perspective, appreciating the nuances involved in lived experience. "De cause I fought for turned out no was so noble," she admitted. "I was young when I joined, back then I was so foolish; I let dem pour poison in my ear and tell me was honey. What I did for dem den, I would never do now. Dat is how I survive." She put a paw slowly and gently on his shoulder, telegraphing her moves clearly to avoid presenting a threat. "What you do before, I believe you were still the best of yourself as you were den," she assessed. "Good beasts in dark places can be easy to mistake for bad beasts, even to demselves."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"Hmm." Caden shrugged. "There's a reason I never took much stock in the concepts of 'good' or 'bad' when applied to an individual. We're often what our circumstances call us to be. Had I not been born to my parents, what kind of beast could I have been? And what led you to needing a cult to give you purpose in life? How much choice do we truly have in who we are and the choices we make?"

He shook his head, managing a small chuckle. "But look at us, two strangers waxing philosophical in the hallway of the Ministry of War on our way to ostensibly find employment. Well, perhaps less of strangers to each other than a few minutes ago."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene smiled warmly at the youngster - or, well, not so young, she reflected. She'd been in her early twenties during the Winter War, and now here she and Bezine were, with a full-grown daughter of their own off in the navy. As the phrase in her native tongue went, 'time is a butcher's knife'.

She chuckled at the oblique reference to their dawdling, and nodded her ascent as they started moving again. As they walked, she was quiet for a moment before she stated, "It was my parents' dea't. Dat drove me to deir arms. My fa'ter died in a warlord's army, my mo'ter of a plague a few years after. It made it easy to tink we are powerless creatures and need de strong to protect us. Was many years before a beast change my mind."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden looked down at the stocky ferret with a nod of understanding. "Sometimes that's what it takes--the right beast at the right time in our lives to change our course for the better. In a way, that's how I ended up back here where everything began for me."

They stopped at the indicated door. It was closed, and upon knocking, there was no answer. Caden tried the handle.

"Locked." He flicked an ear in annoyance and called down the hallway to the Guardsbeasts. "Any of you beasts know where--" he paused, reading the nameplate beside the door, "--Recruiting Officer Tarnash is?"

A wiry fox blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke and answered, "Oh aye. He ate some bad fish for lunch. Out for the rest of the afternoon. Bloke looked positively green around the gills, he did."

The others laughed, and they turned back to their game.

With a sigh, Caden slid his paperwork into his satchel and shouldered it. "Well, there's always tomorrow, I suppose." He glanced sidelong at the Guards, then back to Eirene, a conspiratorial glint in his red eyes behind his wire-framed spectacles. For a moment he looked far younger than his nearly forty years. "Though, I wasn't lying when I said I knew ways to get directly to the Minister of War's office unnoticed, if the passages haven't been blocked off in the past thirty years, at least."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene's eyes widened. Part of her, an old, long dormant part, stirred in interest. There'd been a time in life when the allure of secret knowledge and hidden passages had been like a drug to her, keeping her tightly bound to a society that prided itself on secrecy and moving in the shadows. She couldn't help but grin as they moved away from the guards. "I hear de Imperium likes beasts who show initiative," she remarked. "After all, when one door closes..."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"...we pick the lock of another door and make it open." Caden's grin matched hers. He led them back into the main hallway after a quick look to make sure the clerk was distracted. They melded into the crowd once more, and let the flow carry them further into the Ministry building. With a nonchalant tilt of his head, Caden indicated for Eirene to follow him down an adjoining passage. The passed a pair of posted Guardsbeasts who watched them, but said nothing.

"There's an office at the end of this hall that has a closet in it with a false wall that leads into a series of passages to various locations within the Ministry." Caden said. "The tricky part is going to be getting whoever is in the office out, or if it's locked, breaking in without being noticed."

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene frowned, tapping one finger to her chin as she considered that conundrum. "Hm... a toxic gas leak?" she suggested. "Dat works sometimes. Or maybe we are closet inspectors from de Ministry of Niceties."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"My friend, we are not dressed nearly well enough to be from Niceties." Caden laughed, perhaps more loudly than he intended, as he caught the attention of the two Guards. They stared harder at the pair.

Stopping as though to inspect a bust cast of some long-dead Ministry official, the pine marten asked, "How do you suppose we could pull off a fake gas leak?"

 

[Eirene Liu]

Eirene had to consider that carefully. "Hmm... Well," she allowed, "eidder one of us needs to eat many of de non-fish fishsticks from de vendor in de market, den wait..." She winced at the juvenile nature of the remark. Morgan's sense of humor, it seemed, was influencing her. "...or we crack a rotten egg under de desk."