The Brightest Shadow, page 63
"I took the liberty of gathering all those open-minded enough to listen. Send someone to explain the situation to them and negotiate the details."
"I will convince them." Hanno-ren rose to his feet, but Kolanin stopped him with a raised finger.
"I did mean 'send someone' - recall that they do not know Catai here. They would see your presence not as authority, but as a threat. Send someone small, a quartermaster familiar with numbers. He would probably cut a better deal in any case."
Hanno-ren chuckled. "I am glad to leave it to someone else. You are clearly experienced in this domain, Seinan."
Kolanin hid his wince by rising to his feet and kept himself focused on the present. "I can only provide my perspective, Catainan. You will be the one who needs to fight the ongoing battle. And the others who make the decisions, of course. Is Jakikan ready to speak with me?"
"Aye, he's ready in the building across the way. I'll show you." As they left the building, Hanno-ren glanced over his shoulder toward Kolanin. "Jakikan is... well, I do not know what to say. You will just have to deal with him. Your patience is greater than mine, in any case."
Though he raised his eyebrows at that, Kolanin received no more information. He decided to let it go, and soon they were outside, Hanno-ren leaving to follow orders. So far he had been very open-minded, given that Kolanin was coming to criticize his work, so Kolanin thought he would do well.
It was easy to handle situations like this because there was so little to it. Here on the edge of a war zone between mansthein and humans, ideas like working directly with local merchants were still novel. He could improve the situation just by reminding the soldiers that merchants might be intimidated by an enormous Catai warrior giving them orders. The result might not be peace, but it would be much better than before he had entered Gerant.
Kolanin took a deep breath and enjoyed the sunlight when he stepped outside. Gerant itself was nothing special to look at, one of many Coran towns, important primarily for its location along the new front. Though it had access to good stone and wood, it betrayed the same lack of imagination he had found in many places in the Chorhan Expanse. Or perhaps that was his own bias.
In any case, he didn't need to go far, just into the military building across from the office. They had isolated this section of the city, which was probably necessary, but he spotted some human faces peeking over the wall.
They appeared to be children, watching him as if they'd never seen a mansthein before. It was possible that they hadn't seen more than common Feinan soldiers. Kolanin smiled at them and their eyes went wide before they disappeared over the roof.
When he stepped into the building, he received a much less friendly reception. Grim soldiers sharpened weapons and repaired armor all around him, looking up only to glare. Not simple skepticism; it seemed as though they knew of him and didn't approve. It was rare that he received such negative reactions from mansthein, but he knew many didn't approve of his efforts.
Keeping a smile on his face, Kolanin walked through them to find their leader. From the corner of his eyes, he judged all those he passed. Few had very much sein training, which meant that if necessary, he could take down everyone in the room. Sometimes brute force was what it took to make soldiers listen to talk of peace, so Kolanin rolled his shoulders and loosened his arms. Even that didn't quite fix the kink in his back, and he still felt tired, but he'd be able to fight if necessary.
On the far side of the room, in a poorly lit corner, Jakikan sat sharpening a large knife. He was a heavily scarred Feinan man, stripped to the waist despite his rank. A strap of cloth covered one of his eyes, mostly obscuring what appeared to be a burn scar. As soon as Kolanin approached, he began to let his sein flow, as if preparing for a conflict.
"So." Jakikan glared up at him without ceasing his work on the knife. "You're the Seinan bastard who thinks he can tell us what to do."
"Aryabaus might have sent me, but I'm not here to give any orders." Kolanin slid his hands into his sleeves and didn't look away from the glare. "My job is to help you do your job better. So, Feinan Jakikan... what is your job here?"
"Killing humans."
Kolanin hesitated at that for a moment, but his smile didn't waver. "Then you're not doing your job very well right now, are you?"
"Cuz the boss says we can't kill 'em yet. Maybe kill 'em all tomorrow."
"That... is unlikely to be our objective. You do understand we want East Corah to surrender? That goal would be best accomplished by shows of force, not by convincing them that surrender will lead to their deaths. That will make them fight to the last warrior."
"Eh, waste of time thinkin' about things like that. I'm good at killin'."
Though Kolanin had more to say, he paused to scan the room. Everyone was watching him, but not tensing as if for a conflict. One soldier's sneer was more of a snicker. Kolanin stared into Jakikan's remaining eye for a long time, the grizzled man refusing to budge. Eventually Kolanin sighed.
"You're fucking with me, aren't you?"
Jakikan promptly let out a burst of uproarious laughter that spread around the entire room. Many of the soldiers threw down their weapons and started lazing around, which struck him as much more common behavior for soldiers. It took Jakikan somewhat longer to recover, slapping the table and wiping away tears from his eye.
"You should have seen your face!" Kolanin just waited out his laughter until Jakikan finally wheezed and pulled himself upright. "Sorry about that, oh noble Seinan Kolanin. We're just tired of new commanders showing up and telling us how things are going to go. Seeing how they deal with idiots is a good way to tell how much of a stick they have up their asses."
"And seeing if they're easy to intimidate, I presume?"
"Aye, that too." Jakikan sat forward and slapped the table across from him. "You don't seem too bad, stick-in-ass-wise. If Aryabaus sent you, we've gotta listen, so go ahead."
Kolanin sat, reconsidering his strategy. "I meant my question earlier. I can't help you do your job until I know what your job actually is."
"Keep these shitlickers from doing anything other than picking their noses and wanking themselves off." Someone threw a boot at Jakikan and he dodged out of the way with a casual slouch. "I'm not fucking with you anymore, Seinan. We got dropped into this wasteland and told to hold a city, so that's what we'll do. In case you haven't noticed, Aryabaus isn't the type to explain everything all nice-like."
"So you just want to finish your tour and get back to Orphos?"
"Yeah, something like that." Jakikan sat back, his eyes becoming wistful as he stared toward another soldier who was drinking at a nearby table. "I'd like to retire to a nice little cottage with Wakobom over there. With palm trees, just the way he likes. I can sit on my ass and relax while he brings me tea, just lik-"
"Here's your damn tea!" The soldier he was mocking hurled his mug directly at his head.
Kolanin caught the mug in midair, tilting it so that a minimum of the beer sloshed out. That got a few hoots and calls from the watching soldiers, who were clearly desperate for entertainment. Soldiers usually didn't joke about that sort of thing without going at each other's throats, so this group was clearly as relaxed as they appeared.
Wakobom looked vaguely disappointed. "Come on, Seinan. You can't let Captain Jakikan just say shit like that."
Shrugging, Kolanin turned toward Jakikan. "Well, Captain... do you let your men talk to you like that?"
"They can say whatever the hell they want."
"Then I apologize for getting in the way." Kolanin tossed the entire mug of beer into Jakikan's face, resulting in a roar of laughter, Jakikan laughing harder than anyone.
The captain wiped himself off with a grubby rag and waved at the nearby soldiers to get back to work. Their attitude relaxed further, some soldiers trying to eavesdrop but most letting things go. Jakikan kept the lazy grin on his face, but focused on him more seriously. Kolanin spread his hands on the table and spoke quietly.
"I'll be frank you with you, Jakikan. I'm never going to retire to my own little cottage unless you answer my damn questions."
"Look, we're really just trying to do our job. Problem is, everybody else is playing a different game. Aryabaus wants to level the place, the East Corans want us all dead, and who the fuck knows what everyone out in the Expanse wants?"
Now that Jakikan was speaking plainly, he laid out his problems without any frills. The usual things, like leaders not being given much direction in the field. A good formula for causing chaos, but not a good one for actually holding territory, much less ruling. Kolanin didn't need to fake his disgust - did the generals really think this was going to be successful? After covering his broadest gripes, Jakikan shifted to specifics.
"You want to help, tell me how to tell these damn South Corans apart. They have a whole different attitude but they look just the same as all the others. It gives me a headach-"
"Boots." Kolanin cut off Jakikan curtly. "Not a perfect system, but I recommend you look at their boots. If they're from East or West Corah, they'll have big heavy boots in their kingdoms, or lighter ones in the Coran Expanse. But Corans from the south, they get their boots from Nol craftsmen. Higher, made for walking in water."
"Huh." Jakikan sat back, considering that. "I never noticed that before, but you just might be right."
"It's a start, anyway. I can't say much more than that, because I haven't really spent time in South Corah."
"What about those Nol bastards, though? Always easy to tell them apart because of the weird hair, but what's their actual deal? Some of them actually work with us, others seem to hate us, plenty just hate each other more than they hate us."
"You have to understand, Nol and Tur-Nol aren't kingdoms the way the Coran nations are. They used to be a bunch of different city-states that didn't trust each other. Even though they act like nations well enough, for protection and efficiency, they're all still looking out for themselves. If they were hit hard enough - for example if we invaded - plenty of cities would abandon the others and fight alone."
"Don't get me started on Nol and Tur-Nol. Don't even want to think about it. What I want to know is why they'd be sending people up into the middle of nowhere? Do they even care who the king is here?"
"I'm not sure about that, but if you're dealing with Nol agents, they must have some interest. What you really need to do is speak to soldiers in Nol Ulscense - I can give you the name of someone..." Kolanin wasn't sure if the captain would actually follow up on it, but it was better than nothing.
He spent some time in the barracks, giving advice as best he could without causing any offense. The soldiers didn't seem like killers, though he was sure they'd kill easily enough if it came to it. What mattered was that he didn't think they were the problem. If he could convince the humans not to fight their occupiers, Jakikan and his men would be the first to relax.
Eventually Hanno-ren stuck his head in the door, gesturing for him to come. That got a number of jokes from the soldiers and Jakikan quickly bowed to him. "Oh, mighty Seinan Kolanin! I didn't realize you had business with the honorable Catai!"
Though Kolanin had intended to reply in the same tone, Hanno-ren let out a growl that rumbled with sein. That shut everyone up, though Kolanin was sure that there would be jokes at his expense for the rest of the night. Too tired to make something of the situation, Kolanin simply rolled his eyes and waved farewell to Jakikan before following the Catai out of the room.
"You see what I have to deal with?" Hanno-ren stared down at him, shaking his head. Kolanin decided that would be a battle for a different day.
"Do they shirk their duties?"
"About as much as all soldiers do. I wish we had more true warriors here."
Kolanin nodded in commiseration. "On that note, is that the reason you called me out here?"
"Right. If you want to talk to our actual talent, Annemo is the one you want. Not only is he ready to talk to you, if we hurry, you should be able to see the end of his training." Not bothering to ask if he wanted that, Hanno-ren sped up, moving through the streets swiftly.
They passed the main barracks and the yard where the average soldiers drilled, instead rounding one of the larger buildings. There, between the building and the city wall, lay an alley just large enough for many kinds of training. Kolanin spotted a rack of practice weapons and a few targets, but his attention was mostly absorbed by the man in the center of the space.
Several knives flew through the air above him, juggled from one hand to another. Yet it was no mere street performance: each knife carried a significant amount of sein. As Kolanin watched, one of the knives passing through his hands lit up in flame. That wasn't just for show, either, as he could feel the sein transforming dangerously. The flow in the man's body was solid as well.
"Annemo!" Hanno-ren shouted out, drawing his attention but not making his focus falter. "Show our friend your art!"
Without hesitating, Annemo caught the next knife and hurled it toward them instead of throwing it upward. It flew directly toward Hanno-ren's chest, and the Catai dodged it instead of letting the knife bounce off him. Annemo advanced, his ring of flaming knives moving with him in a pattern that no juggler could have accomplished - then his next knife flew straight for Kolanin's head.
He caught the blade between his fingers, but had to let go a moment later as the heated sein actually began to burn him. This Annemo was no Catai, but he was capable of concentrating an impressive amount of sein into each weapon. And while his skill was unnecessarily flashy, in ten years he might be able to fashion it into something terrible to behold.
His defense clearly ended the sparring, Annemo smoothly catching all the remaining knives as they came down, their flames dissipating. He gave a respectful nod toward Kolanin and started to move in his direction, only to be interrupted.
"Daddy!" A girl ran from an open doorway, holding her arms up toward him. Moments later a woman came after her, moving with more than normal speed to catch the girl before she could go too far.
Annemo quickly moved up to them, kneeling down and touching the girl's hair gently. Whatever he said was too low to hear, but he then rose to kiss the woman before turning back to meet Kolanin. His family disappeared back into the doorway as he loped toward them.
"Evening, Hanno-ren. Is this the Seinan Kolanin?"
"Yes. He has proved very reasonable." Hanno-ren folded his arms over his chest and moved back, gesturing between them. "He wants to talk to you about training our warriors."
"Oh, of course." Annemo wiped his hands off on his pants and gave him a respectful bow. "It seems you know something of sein yourself, Seinan Kolanin."
Kolanin smiled politely. "A little. But I wanted to speak to you about how you're training those warriors with promise..."
They spoke at some length about his perspective and strategy, but in this case Kolanin had little to suggest. Annemo understood the core principles of sein development for an army, even if he wasn't specifically trained in the field. All Kolanin could do was give his observations about how the resistance used high intensity attacks and how Gerant might prepare for them.
While they spoke, Hanno-ren moved away, apparently losing interest. When their business was concluded, Kolanin should have gone back with him, as they had more to accomplish before the day was done. Yet he found himself thinking mostly about Annemo, wondering why the man was stationed here. Their conversation had been brief, yet...
"Feinan Annemo... if I may ask, why are you here in this position? You don't strike me as the type who's interested in bloodshed, and with your talent you could have many other positions in better conditions."
"Not as many as you might think." Annemo examined him thoughtfully, as if evaluating him, then continued in a lower voice. "I hope you understand that I wouldn't be accepted as a tutor for some Seinan lord or anything of the sort."
"No, I simply meant a different military position."
"There are some that might be easier, but they don't pay as well as getting sent to Breilin." Another pause, and Kolanin didn't dare demand that he say more. Fortunately, after a time he kept speaking. "My wife and I would like to have more children. But not a clutch - I can't imagine forcing her to go through that. But the cost of the herbs, especially since we're having trouble conceiving..."
"It might not be you. That is a common side effect of starflower."
"Ah, is it? No one had even told us that much, we're going based on what she hears from her friends. But in any case, that's our reason."
Not so common, and it brought a smile to Kolanin's face even as it troubled him. "You don't have any trouble being together in an isolated position like this?"
"Oh, not at all. My wife is the one from this unit, actually, I transferred in later. So the men are used to her - I'm the only one who gets some anger over it, but after we had our daughter... well, you saw her. Even the most bitter soldier has to appreciate a child that innocent."
"You should leave."
Annemo stared at him in surprise and Kolanin found himself struggling for words. He was honestly surprised at himself. Though he had raised the subject with vague concerns in the back of his mind, he hadn't intended to state anything that blunt. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he turned back to the younger warrior.
"This land is even less stable than it appears. It's no place for anyone to raise a family."
"Do... do you know about something that's coming?"
"No. Not like that." Kolanin rubbed his forehead, suddenly too tired to continue the conversation. Annemo and his wife seemed so young, not to mention their daughter... "I have been stationed here for many years, and I don't like the direction things have gone. It will get worse."
"Well... thank you for your concern, Seinan Kolanin." Annemo bowed politely, but it was clear that he wouldn't do anything. Kolanin was no longer certain that he even should.
Kolanin made polite farewell and walked to join the Catai warrior. He wondered if that was the first true thing he'd said the whole day.
