In the weeks and months after Celeste's failed charge, the war seemed to grind to a halt. It was as Tosetti had said, with the mud filling the valley's, no one was going to attempt to advance. Instead, they dug in and were subjected to weeks of bombardment. They responded in kind, but it didn't make enduring the bombardments any easier.
Celeste would sit hidden away in dugout barracks for hours at a time as they listened to the earth above them abused by the artillery. They would be disturbed from their duties at any time of the day by the sudden whistling shells raining upon them. Plenty of men died, caught unawares. Much to her fortune, the last two of Celeste's men survived every bombardment they were forced to sit through.
The longer this went on, the more Celeste noticed strange behaviour from the general. Whilst she helped to guide everyone to shelter, he would strip off his outer clothing and head out to the front of the trenches. As they appeared from the holes when they were sure the storm had passed, she saw him heading back to his command tent, seemingly oblivious to the men filtering around him.
He could survive a direct hit, she knew that now, but it still seemed odd behaviour. She didn't bring it up to him in their meetings. They felt less frequent than they had. His orders less strenuous. He didn't bother to use her for aggressive attacks, though she did do some scouting to monitor the enemy's supply routes. Occasionally she would have to burn a few supply wagons, but even that was done cautiously.
Finally, she managed to catch him after a bombardment. She jogged through the trench as he strode along, managing to catch his arm and pull him back.
“Are you going to explain what all that's about?” She said, motioning out of the trench, towards the enemy lines.
“Explain what to you, Captain?” Tosetti asked, yanking his arm away from her.
“Why you keep standing out there in the bombardments. You might be indestructible, but this doesn't seem like the safest plan.”
“That's not exactly my power. It's not your business, I've told you it's important to keep secrets.”
“I don't care about that. The men aren't having a wonderful time under this bombardment campaign. If they're going to get through this, we need to know that our general hasn't lost it.”
“I haven't-”
Celeste shoved him back against the wall of the trench. “Then explain. Because right now, it looks like you're struggling with this. What is it, see if a bomb gets you or if you're consumed?”
Tosetti scowled and stood up straight. She was reminded of how unfair it was being a wizard hadn't made her tall. “Fine. But you will keep this quiet.” He glanced around before leaning closer to her to speak. “I'm monitoring enemy troop movements. You know how I can see a bird's-eye view of nearby terrain?” She nodded. “I believe our enemy is aware of this power. And so, they have been careful to keep most of their men in dugouts. They only move under the cover of artillery fire.”
“Why would that make a difference?”
“I can only use it while I am in the open air. It's possible one of their wizards studied with me and is aware of that limitation. If I'm out of artillery range than I'm also too far to see them.”
“So, you've never told anyone about your third power?”
“I have done my best. I would have preferred you not to know, but it is no matter.”
“What have you seen then?” She asked, lowering her voice just a little.
He seemed to consider her for a moment before answering. “It seems that the Ofprovian eastern divisions are finally arriving. It doesn't make much difference now, but when fighting restarts in earnest, things are going to be different.”
“How long do we have?”
“Till the spring, most likely. I doubt their new soldiers will be suited for the harsh winters here.”
She nodded and then paused to think. “This tactic of yours, it must be empowering you a lot. You had better be soothing effectively.”
He broke into a warmer smile than she had ever seen from him. “But of course. I know what I'm doing. I have years of experience on you.”
“If you are consumed, I will kill whatever you become without hesitation,” Celeste muttered.
“Don't worry,” He said, maintaining his smile. “I expected nothing less. You might not have yet become a good soldier, but you do have your uses.” And with that, he took off.
The autumn soon gave way to the coldness of winter. Being forced under the ground wasn't so bad, at least the sweaty warmth of your fellow soldiers kept you all warm down there. The explosions above sounded all the louder as the shells impacted into the hardened ground. But you could barely hear that over the mindless chatter.
It was the day when the first flakes of snow began to fall when Tosetti informed Celeste she and her men were to take two weeks leave, plus travel time. There was a city less than a week's travel away which he recommended to them. He added some notes to her identity papers and told her to collect her salary when she got there. So, the trio set off on the back of a rickety supply cart returning south.
It wasn't an enjoyable journey. They were soon surrounded by the plateaus again. It felt like home, even if the shelter kept the air cooler. despite the falling snows, the roads remained clear. They would pass logistics soldiers working hard to keep them clear at all times of the day.
“That may have been us,” Uberto said wistfully. His head was rested on the side of the cart, bouncing with each bump in the road.
“I doubt even general Pesaro would have put me on shovelling duty,” Celeste said dismissively, looking at him with one open eye.
“I suppose not. It might have been nice to do though. At least there's no bombardments.”
“Julius would have hated it.” Teo smiled softly as he spoke. “He was always talking about earning some distinction. A battle or two and we'd have some stories to tell when this is all over.”
“And what did fighting earn him?” Uberto shot back.
Both men fell silent. Celeste opened her eyes to look between them. They said impassively, watching the road with little interest. She sat up, realising she had to be their captain, even now.
“Look up, it'll be nice to be somewhere out of the war for a while. I wouldn't pick a city as my number one destination, but this will only be the third one I've visited, maybe it will sell me on them.” She tried to sound cheerful.
“That's the same for me,” Teo pointed out. “I'd never left Commodal before. We've come a long way. It will be fun to go to a pub again. Somewhere loud and happy.”
“What about you, Uberto?” Celeste prompted.
“What about me?” Uberto responded.
“What are you looking forward to over your break?”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you suppose the city will have a library?”
“I imagine so,” She said with a laugh. She noticed his embarrassed look and shook her head. “I'm not saying that's bad. Gales, it feels like an eternity since I was in the Tricapon library.”
After nearly a week's travel, they saw the city. They turned into a valley running east to west and saw the squat settlement bathing in the low winter sun. In the summertime, it might have looked out of place, a strip of grey nestled in a bed of green. Currently, it stuck out as grey in white. Waterfalls fell either side of it, their waters joining within the city before running west. Unlike Teldomia that rose to its central palace, this city looked almost completely flat, most buildings only being two or three stories with a few odd towers.
As they drew closer, two things stood out to Celeste. The city walls, that ran from one side of the valley to the other, looked in disrepair. Huge holes were evidently growing in the old stonework. More concerningly to Celeste, there appeared to be a second city of tents crowded next to the wall. She wondered if the army was running out of room to quarter soldiers.
“It's a shabbier looking place than I expected,” She muttered, more to herself.
“What do you mean?” Teo asked.
“The walls. It seems awfully vulnerable to attack like that.”
“Commodal doesn't have any walls at all.”
“And look how that worked out.”
“It's not like walls do anything anymore,” Uberto pointed out. “Those are, what, maybe five meters high. You wouldn't even consider them when aiming artillery. The walls the general made were way taller and they didn't even block everything.”
She looked out on the city again now. If the war pushed this far south, how would this city and its people fair? If they had lifts in the city, they might escape to the relative safety of the highlands. And then the war might truly penetrate her home. It might tear apart the land it was being fought to defend.
On their final approach to the city, Celeste realised that the tents weren't for soldiers. The people crowding around them looked to be peasants, not soldiers. In fact, patrolling soldiers created a clear divide between the people and the road. Some looked up at the passing cart, calling out at them to stop. Calling for food or shelter, but in Ofprovian not Laocienan. Celeste looked in horror as a soldier violently shoved a woman who got too close to the road back with the shaft of his halberd. She held her tongue. She didn't know what was going on. Maybe she was done with being so impulsive. Maybe she was just a coward.
Once they were in the city, the driver pointed them towards the local barracks. There the trio handed over their identification papers and collected their salary. Celeste understood that as a captain, she would be paid more than her men. However, while her men were given their money directly, the clerk asked if she wanted to take it all out immediately. She asked what might be a more reasonable amount. The clerk suggested three months’ worth of pay. So, Celeste asked for that and the three marvelled at the size of the bag she was brought.
More accurately, she and Uberto marvelled at its mass. Teo was shocked by the value.
“That can't be right,” He said, comparing it to his own salary. “Are officers really paid that much more than us?”
Celeste offered a shrug. She hadn't really learned the value of money in her time at school. Sabina had always been one to handle money when they had visited the villages. “I would be as shocked as you are if I knew how much this was.”
“Have you read the notes the general added to your papers?” Uberto asked. While she'd been distracted, he'd picked them off the table and flipped through.
She took it from him to look at the page he held open. Tosetti's hand was scrawled in a section titled 'Salary alterations'. It seemed that he had increased her pay grade without mentioning it to her.
She didn't spend too long wondering about that. She could ask the general once she was off her break. For now, she focused on finding them somewhere to stay. The clerk directed them to a few inns. She remarked on the price before remembering the money she'd just handed Celeste. They ended up at what they were assured was the nicest inn in the city. Celeste happily paid for their rooms.
It was too cold and soon too dark to spend time out in the city so they instead they sat in the inn, drinking and eating. It was quiet there. Not many people were travelling this far north given the war, she supposed. Sat in the gloomy room, she remembered all those months ago, when the five of them had celebrated after killing the consumed wizard. The laughter and joy in them then. Maybe it was just that this place was so much quieter than the crowded, dirty tavern in Commodal.
Still, it was nice to be somewhere warmed by something other than body heat. All the more so after their nights in breezy tents. Celeste was used to being in the cold though, it was so deeply calming.
“Here's something I don't get,” Uberto said after they had been sat in silence for a while. “Why would the general send you away now? I know the war is kind of at a holt, but you are at your strongest. It's freezing cold and the valley winds certainly haven't eased up. It doesn't seem like him to send away his strongest asset.”
Celeste sat thoughtfully for a moment. “I've wondered that as well. I feel like I can't pin him down as much recently. Maybe it's partly because he's more empowered, it'll make him...” She paused. She probably shouldn't mention Tosetti's recent intelligence gathering. They were far from the front, but he had told her to keep it quiet. There may have been spies lurking for all she knew. “Maybe it's just that the war is getting to him.”
“He doesn't seem like the kind of man to break down and start being nice to his officers like that. I can't imagine a man more terrifying.” He shivered a little as he spoke.
He had an abrasive presence, that was for sure, but she had never considered Tosetti to be frightening. She was a wizard, though. Despite their differences, that gave her a kinship with the general. She knew in a fight which one of them would come out on top.
“And that pay increase is weird,” Teo added. “Not that I'm complaining. Though I suppose you have been through a lot. I don't know if it's just customary for wizards or something.”
“We've all been through a lot. Being a wizard makes all this easier,” Celeste said. She felt guilty for her power. For the ease as which she could move through the horror and death of the war. She did lie though. It wasn't easier. The pain you felt was all the greater. But that was secondary, she told herself, pushing it aside.
They toasted to absent friends and sat drinking in the warmth late into the night. The inn lacked any kind of timepiece and it had been dark so long they couldn't guess at the time when they finally retired upstairs.
Celeste lay in her warm room, comfortable under the plush covers of her bed. She was warm and dry and safe. And her mind was a blaze with thoughts. She couldn't find a state of calm. She thought back to her school days, how easily she had slept back then. What was wrong with her?
You are anxious.
“You noticed,” She whispered to the darkness.
Why? You have been given time to rest. The war is a week away.
“It doesn't feel that way.”
Do you need to go up to the top of a plateau, see for yourself how far away we are?
“Maybe the war isn't just out there. Maybe it's in here with me.”
It's too dark to see, but I doubt there is an Ofprovian lying in wait here.
“You must know that isn't what I meant.” She sighed, closing her eyes. She couldn't see the room anyway, but as she plunged them into even deeper darkness, she felt the hints of images appearing at the edges of her vision. “Do you not see them?”
Your eyes are closed.
She snapped them back open. The images had started to creep further into her vision. She couldn't bear it. But the spirit couldn't see that. It shared all of her perceptions, but it couldn't read her mind. She turned onto her side, pulling the blanket around her and holding it firmly.
“What do you care anyway? If I'm feeling off that's all the better for you. You want me to be exactly like that wizard I killed.”
You are not wrong. But I have to live within you. We are as one. I feel what you feel, in a sense. Anxiety is not an emotion I would wish for.
“Well, maybe you should accept some blame. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. I would just be a peasant girl, caring for my sheep with...” Her voice faltered. She didn't dare say his name.
You are such a nuisance about it. And yet, I cannot imagine being bound to another human.
“So romantic,” She muttered spitefully.
You are unique. And you wield my power like I could never have imagined. We have great things to do yet, I can feel it.
Her stomach turned at its words. She couldn't imagine doing anything great. All she was good for was killing. She supposed that might be what it considered great. But she couldn't relate to that feeling. After all these years with the spirit whispering in her ear, it still surprised her how revolted she could be by it.
As she lay in the dark of her room, floorboards creaked in the hallway. She heard someone muffle a swear. In a moment she was fully alert. Maybe she hadn't been wrong about the spies. Maybe someone was here to kill her. She hadn't brought any weapons with her so she could only rely on her powers. In a moment the covers of the bed were hanging in the air as she sprung up to crouch on her bed.
The footsteps slowed and she heard the lock of a door click. It wasn't her own. It sounded like it was a room over. Uberto's room. She relaxed a little. Were people likely to be assassinating random foot soldiers on leave? Perhaps she'd just been overstating her own importance.
Through the wall, she could hear quiet words spoken in the darkness. Soft. She lay back in her own bed, pulling the covers tightly over herself as she heard the other door clicking closed. She turned to face the other wall as she lay. The walls were thick enough to muffle out the meaning of words, though if she could tell they were there. Even so, it felt rude to lie and half-listen to their conversation.
She woke late the next day. It felt good, to be without any responsibilities. She ate and strolled out into the city. She abandoned her military jacket and managed to find somewhere selling clothes. Wrapped in a woollen jacket, she felt much more comfortable. There was a familiar smell of sheep to it still. She wondered how far she would have to travel before finding the flock that produced the fibre.
She wandered the streets of the city, curious about everything there. Soon, her curiosity became resignation. There was nothing about the city that interested her. Maybe it was partly the cold, but she found the city feeling empty. She supposed a lot of the younger men had gone to fight, but it felt like more than all of that. Teldomia and Commodal had felt full of life. Energy and excitement. This was a stone husk waiting for life to fill it.
She passed by a small industrial quarter in the north of the city. A few small factories. She wasn't allowed in, so she hopped up to the roof and peaked down through their windows at the men and women inside making munitions for the war. Maybe she would see the shells fired, load one of their rounds into her own gun.
After spending too long staring idly into one of the rivers, she went to find a late lunch. She sat inside a small cafe with Teo and Uberto, looking out of the glass front at a small square.
“It's too quiet here,” Teo was saying.
“Not quiet enough. I swear the sounds of the factory must be reflecting off the cliff walls right back at me wherever I am,” Uberto shot back.
“Well maybe if you're used to the highlands. Surely the wind must be noisy up there.”
“Not like the sound of machinery is.”
Celeste said nothing. If it was loud here, she hadn't notice. She had grown used to the slight creek of pipes warming Tricapon. She looked at the military depot across the square. It must have been a requisitioned building because it didn't look fit for purpose.
“Celeste?”
She looked around at Teo's voice. “What did you want to do for the new year?”
She blinked. She hadn't considered how near to the end of the year it was. “It'll be happening when we're travelling back, won't it?”
“I'm pretty sure. But even so, it can't go uncelebrated.”
She nodded slowly. “I'll get back to you on that.” It dawned on her in that moment how different things were where she celebrated the start of this year. The war was just a whisper of a hint of an idea. That it would ever become a reality would have shocked her back then.
In the afternoon she found somewhere selling newspapers. She grabbed a few different publications and sat to read them. It became apparent that nearly half of their pages were filled with reports on the war. She glanced over these, noticing constant inaccuracies in the titles. But she wasn't interested in reading about the war. Even when she escaped news of the northern front, she found more stories about the fighting in the south. She wanted to remain ignorant of that. In the end, she found there was little that interested her. Stories of court balls or other nonsense seemed so unimportant.
The next morning, her curiosity got the best of her and Celeste went to investigate the camp outside the city. As she tried to approach the camp, the patrolling soldiers held her back. She displayed her papers and the soldiers saluted as they let her pass.
The camp was far more disorganised than she'd realised as they had passed by. There were some true tents erected, but many were little more than blankets slung over a stick. She moved through the tents, finding them focused around a few large fires. Scrap wood burned gently down to embers. Crowds of people huddled around the fires, women with children pushed to the front. She had to steady herself for a moment as she approached them. She had grown accustomed to the smell of unwashed bodies, but this was even worse somehow.
They eyed her suspiciously as she approached them. She heard their muttering, making out the word wizard. In Ofprovian. She quickly switched into their language. She spoke slowly and as clearly as she could, trying to explain that she was simply there to ask them some questions. A young man volunteered to speak. His speech was rapid and in thick dialect. She asked him to slow down but what he considered slow was still too fast for her.
She managed though, getting a sense of what they were telling her. They had fled from the north and were stuck here. She asked what the soldiers were doing for them, and it sounded like nothing except keeping them trapped in. Understanding them was made harder as someone else would try to cut in, in an equally thick dialect. Not all of them sounded the same, she began to realise. She tried to ask why they had fled south instead of north but she could discern nothing as they all spoke at once to answer that.
Finally, she asked if they knew who was in charge of the soldiers. She was pointed to an officer standing atop a crumbling section of wall. She didn't waste a moment and headed towards him. She could hear the people behind her calling out for things they needed. Food, blankets, firewood. The simple nouns were all she could really pick out of their speech.
The officer looked out distractedly over the camp, barely noticing her until she leapt up the wall to stand next to him. She coughed and he turned. Under a large cloak, she could make out his uniform, marking him out as a sergeant-major. She was pleased that she was beginning to identify uniforms. He brought a tin mug up to his lips, blowing steam off it.
“I should probably have you arrested on the spot. Who are you?” He took a sip of his drink, letting her speak. He spoke with a faint highlands accent. He must have been in his late thirties or forties, grey streaks already appearing in his braid and beard.
“Captain Celeste,” She said sharply, pulling out her papers to show him. “Serving under general Tosetti. On leave.”
“Right you are,” He said, lazily saluting. “What can I do for you, captain? What interests does a wizard have with me?”
“Who are these people?” She said, motioning to the camp.
“Refugees from the war.”
“They're Ofprovians.”
“Well, of course. We mostly move Laocienans on, send them to villages in the highlands.”
“And we don't have anywhere to send these people?”
The sergeant-major shrugged. “They don't speak the language so we can't trust them among the general population. And we can't simply let them wander off. High command is clear that there's a risk of spies slipping in with them.”
“So, they're just left out there to freeze?”
“I have a limited amount of supplies I'm allowed to distribute. We do what we can but there is a war on, you realise?”
Celeste turned and rested her hands on the wall before recoiling as she felt how cold the stone was. He moved to stand beside her. “Why are they here? Why didn't they go into Ofprovian lands?”
“Beats me,” He said, shrugging. “We don't have many people who can speak Ofprovian. Not all of us are academy educated.” She could feel him giving her a side look.
“They would be fed if they stayed where they were. The southern belt of Ofprovo is their most fertile region.”
The sergeant-major snorted. “And be a victim to marauding armies?” She turned to him in confusion. “Tosetti...He's out on the eastern front, right? Oh yes, I remember, victor of Gloriocitta Pass, they've taken to calling him. Not that I ever heard those valleys called that.” He chuckled softly, sending out great plumes of breath. “Out in the west, the war is far more back and forth. I don't know, they might have seen armies pass by three or four times.”
“And we don't have the food to feed them. We've got the highest agricultural output on the continent, how can we not feed them?” Confusion slipped into her voice. This seemed to oppose everything she had learnt in school.
“Most of what comes through here is headed for the front. I'm given a little to distribute but my main job here is to keep supplies flowing north. Plus, there's a lot less coming in from the north.”
“And if they starve? Wait, what's wrong in the north?” She asked, looking at him with concern.
“Most of the farmland there has been destroyed.” He reported these facts to her with a calm indifference.
“The Ofprovians are burning farms?”
“Our generals are.” He clearly registered her shocked face. “It was a major piece of general Tosetti's victory. I hear the rest of them have been quick to imitate the wizard general.” He looked at her again with increased scrutiny. “Have I heard stories about you?”
“Is there really nothing you can do? These people are freezing out there? Why aren't they allowed into the city?”
“Fear of spies, like I said. I am distributing what I can, but if I do anything more I will be dismissed. Not all of us have assured positions.”
Celeste turned to go, already constructing something resembling a plan in her mind.
“Where are you going?” He called after her.
“To do something.”
She leapt off the wall and headed into the city. After stopping at the barracks and picking up more of her salary, she set out looking for places that sold blankets. She soon widened her search, and found any place selling clothing. She brought up anything warm she could find. It became unwieldy and she found Uberto and Teo to have them carry it with her. Finally, she approached anywhere in the city she could find that served food, paying them to prepare all the hot food they could to bring out to the camp.
She returned to her rooms to slip on her uniform before she went to start distributing the clothing and food to the refugees as best she could. The soldiers who had stopped her before stood aside submissively as they saw her uniform. People began to crowd as she tried to explain to them what she had to give. Soon though they were crowding too much, talking to her faster than she could understand. She did her best to distribute the clothing she had to those who looked old and infirm, or to those with young children.
When she had first visited the camp, she hadn't quite realised how many people were there. Hundreds? Thousands? She couldn't comprehend. Even trying to limit the supplies to those who most seemed in need, she realised they wouldn't have enough. People continued to crowd her after she had run out. She did her best to explain, promising she would try to get hold of more but she had no idea if she was making herself understood.
The food went no better. The people she'd hired brought hot soups and stews, some bread too. She helped in handing out the steaming bowls but this quickly seemed to run low as well. She argued with the merchants, demanding more. She even tried throwing around her weight as an officer. But it was hopeless, they explained. They only had so much food to sell.
Her gut wrenched as she tried to explain to the mothers and their children, the old and ill, that there was no more food. Her nostrils burnt in the cold air but she tried to keep her breathing steady and her voice level. How did you tell someone they couldn't eat when you knew there was plenty of food still in the city? Behind the walls that seemed made to keep them out. They were supposed to keep out enemies, but these people weren't enemies. They were Ofprovian, but they were innocents, swept up in the way of a war they didn't start.
Guilt racked her as she left them for the day. She swore a promise she would be back, she would do more. It was a promise she couldn't imagine keeping now.
Why do you feel such guilt? Her spirit asked as she lay awake in the dead of night. It felt unfair, being wrapped in a warm bed. You did more than you needed to. Did you not help some of them still?
“I don't think you get it.”
Because I am not human?
“Because you're evil. You always have been. Life means nothing to you.”
A bit rich coming from you. That officer seemed to know you. He said he had heard stories about you.
“He thought he might have. Why would anyone tell a story about me?” She said, growing uncomfortable.
Well, you are an incredible soldier. It almost seemed to laugh as it spoke. There are stories about you, on both sides of the war. I don't think you'd like any of them.
“How can you even begin to know that?” She said, turning and resting her pillow on the side of her head, as though she could block out the spirit's voice.
We spirits have our ways of knowing.
Though she kept checking shops for more supplies, there was nothing to be had even at her promise of great wealth. Celeste didn't really know how much money she had. Money was all a bit vague to her. But money couldn't create fabric from nothing, or spring food from the ground. She knew what it took to feed and clothe a village. Money was just a meaningless intermediary. She didn't have the courage to return to the camp empty-handed.
They had been in the city for a week and none of them seemed better rested for it. Teo's leg bounced frantically under the stable as they sat in a cafe. Celeste tried to ignore it as she flipped through another newspaper. Printed on the front was a woodcutting of the king visiting soldiers on the front lines. He looked much more handsome in the image than in real life, she thought.
She didn't look up as the door swung open and a gust of cold air slipped down the back of her shirt. She continued not to look up as someone next to her coughed.
“Excuse me, captain?” They said at last.
She sighed and looked up to see a young soldier standing there. He looked nervous, twiddling his bright red fingers. Maybe he was just trying to warm them up. “What?” She said shortly.
“The Sergeant-Major requests your service.” Before she could respond he continued. “He says that he knows he can't compel a superior, but that he needs a wizard.”
“The army has other wizards. I'm on leave.”
“He says that all other wizards are at the front. He needs your help immediately.”
“I don't see why I should lend him my assistance. He's hardly been helpful to me.”
“We're worried,” The young soldier spoke more freely now. He'd clearly run out of preprepared lines. “That a wizard is stealing from the army. This should be a matter you can resolve easily.”
Celeste thought on that for a moment. It did interest her. She knew exactly the sort of person who might try that, but surely even she wasn't that reckless. She nodded.
“Fine. I will help. Tell him I will meet him at the barracks tomorrow. I'm busy today.”
“Okay, I will, Captain.” The soldier saluted stiffly before moving towards the door. “I will tell Sergeant-Major Alfonso right away.”
Celeste froze for a moment. “What did you say?”
“I will tell him-”
“No, his name.”
“Alfonso?” The soldier said in confusion.
Celeste sighed and motioned for him to leave. Teo and Uberto gave her a slight look as she sat there. It was just a coincidence. That was all. By the Wind though, it felt as if her past would never leave her be.