Sparrow glanced sideways at her superior. Commander Hale stood stock stiff, hands folded behind her like she was carved from stone. The only thing belying that notion was the wiry black hair sweeping off her shoulders, tugging at the creases in her pauldrons as the sea wind whipped and curled the pennants that hung behind her, against the inner keep’s walls.
It was a perfect picture, a pose struck almost for Sparrow’s benefit.
“What do you see, Swift?” her commander asked.
Sparrow Swift snapped back to attention like she had been stung by a mud dauber wasp. She pulled her gaze away from her superior officer, looking past the crenellations and the banners of the castle, past the Division soldiers on watch duty. The city of Freeport lay beyond, like white and gray and sandy colored blocks arranged by a child, nestled up against the seashore and spreading up the Dehitero River. Little boats tacked the waters, and the docks were a mess of masts and lines. On the far side, further inland, clouds of dust marked the roads and the caravans who plied their trade along them. If she looked even further, she could just make out the squares of the farmlands, their fields brown and gold with the arid heat. The planting time was a couple months off yet. Then there would be a scramble to get the crops seeded in enough time for their roots to set, before the deluge of the wet season’s rains battered at plant and soil alike.
“I see my home,” Sparrow said quietly.
“Yes. Provincial. Quaint. A city that believes itself above all the others, who for so long held her own sovereignty. She stood apart from the squabbling of Krygon and Tarith to her south and north, as if such concerns of conquest and unity were beneath her: the neutral city, the hub of trade, the free port.”
Sparrow’s mouth was dry. The commander was baiting her, though she wasn’t sure for what. She said nothing.
“A proud city,” Hale remarked, continuing. “A fitting addition to the Mogul’s empire. Her soldiers fell bravely, but still they fell, and now they serve us. Me.” Commander Hale’s gauntlet banged down suddenly on the wall. Sparrow jumped and grit her teeth as the officer swung around and lit a dark-eyed glare on her. “So tell me, Swift, why you saw fit to tarnish your heritage and besmirch the Division’s reputation? The eyes of the Mogul are upon you!” she thundered.
