"So what's our rank? We participated in the last tournament, so did we ranked up?"
Rick sounded excited. He now has something to aim for.
"You are all rank E, you only rank up in classic tournaments, the classic season has ended recently and what you participated was merely a decoy, a way to generate money. And that's why you were allowed that easily to participate in the first place. The real tournament is much different than this, you haven't even seen anything yet." A smirk flashed on Sat's face.
"So we are not required to answer to Commanders, so no reason to take the council meeting seriously right? So why did you say the opposite?" Ravi spoke after long time.
"You missed my point, an individual commander is just another person, just someone with overwhelming power, but the council is the literal ruler. You can choose how you interact with a commander, not without being safe of course. But the council is different. You will obey everything the council decides. Disobedience will be punished and even I can't help you in that case. I fear two things and the council is one of them, and you'd rather not know the second one."
Silence grasped the area for a few seconds.
"So I guess no questions for now, good, now go get ready. There is a long day ahead." Sat walked out of the room.
=======================
[FEW HOURS LATER]
It was an open ground, men and women dressed in black were mourning the death of captain. Some were there not dressed in black. They wore a cloak similar with what Sat's students wore. One of them looked kind of uncomfortable with the dress. As Sat and Cecile entered the ground with the kids, the boy looked towards them and gently smiled. The kids were shocked at first, but then a wave of assurance flew among them.
It was Shaun trying to adjust in his cloak. They went towards him and have him a big hug, of course except for Ravi, he kept some distance. Sat went towards the area where people were sobbing in front of Captain's photo. He had a bouquet of flowers with him. Cecile went towards somewhere far from this commotion.
As Sat approached the sobbing crowd, he recognised an old woman. She wasn't crying like the rest, just staring blankly at the photo. It seemed like she was a wax sculpture. Sat went near her and coughed a little to get her attention. Hearing him, everyone around suddenly noticed him and looked kind of scared.
"I...am deeply sorry for your loss madam, he was like a brother to me." Sat said slowly.
"You know this was supposed to be his last flight...well now it's literally..." The woman slowly moved and faced Sat with a faint smile. "Ah, you must be Sat, he talked about you many times. I told him to invite you in our home...well my son, he was a man of his words, kept his promise.
"I... don't know what to say, it was so sudden we didn't even get to talk-" Suddenly Sat noticed her expression changing. She was doing some weird hand motions, she was literally trembling. It was clear she was about to slap him right into his face, but she could barely move her hands. The whole movement seemed to be in slow motion, she gritted her teeth in anger and reached for his face.
Even a turtle could dodge it with flying colours, but Sat had some other ideas. He didn't move at all, he slowly closed his eyes.
In a second the slap landed. Surprisingly it shook Sat, he almost lost his balance. He couldn't believe such strength came from her hand. Maybe God sometimes does gives the helpless strength. His cheek slowly started reddening.
Everyone around was scared and slowly moved back. They were whispering something, only legible word was Sat, they were terribly taken aback. From their look, it seemed something bad will happen as consequences of the recent action.
"A brother you say...WHAT KIND OF HUMAN PUSHES HIS BROTHER TOWARDS DEATH? HUH? WHAT KIND? ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN? YOU WERE A BROTHER TO HIM, BUT HE WASN'T..." She breathed heavily.
"IT WAS ALWAYS TRUE, NOTHING GOOD COMES OUT OF THE PATH YOU WALK SAT, NOTHING. YOU ALWAYS BRING MISERY TO EVERYONE CLOSE TO YOU. WHY DID MY SON EVER BELIEVE YOU!" She looked tired, and couldn't continue.
"I..." Sat didn't finish the line.
"Please...I beg you, don't call yourself his brother...have mercy, it's an insult to the mothers of every noble man. You two could never ..." She broke down while crying. Looked like she was saving his last but of strength and tears for Sat.
Some women around them came with some courage and helped captain's mother. Sat slowly put the bouquet before the photo and quietly left.
As he walked away without uttering a word, a face of a middle aged woman appeared in front of him and slowly vanished. Sat stopped for a moment..."May be maa thinks the same..." He wasn't crying but he did he really not cry? As he was diving deep into the past, a friendly hand wrapped around his shoulder.
It startled him a little. It was Major Sayak.
"Oh it's you..."
"Yeah...was the slap that hard? You shook like a flower there. Or you are getting old?" Sayan mocked him, trying to cheer things up.
Smiling faintly, Sat replied, "By the looks of it, you didn't talk with her at all."
"Yeah, I'm not stupid. If she hit me, I would have hit her too. I am not like you." Sayan said proudly.
"Come on, she lost her only son. Gold bless her, she only slapped me. I wouldn't be surprised if she shot me with machine gun there."
"Come on man... don't say it like that... it wasn't even your fault, it was my fault to begin with...only if I could realise what he was gonna do...yet you took the blame like a true brother." Sayak looked at his own feet in shame.
"If you are really calling me your brother, at least don't lie when you do." Sat wrapped his hand around Sayak's shoulder. "How do I know? That slap put some sense into me. I didn't realise the changes since I disappeared...so anyway how's Shaun doing?"
"What? What lie are you talking about?"
"Perhaps there are so many that you don't understand which one I'm pointing to...you knew what he was gonna do...maybe not precisely, but the outcome was clear. Yet...he saved you..." Sat smiled eagerly at his face. "Anyway we can fight about it later, so how's Shaun doing?"
"Your allegations...why are you doing this..." Sayak looked back with a confused face.
"I have neither a plan nor any proof to debunk your lies, you can be rest assured about that. But you do something even passively to my students and Shaun, I'll remind the world why I'm called the angel of misfortune...oh you didn't answer my question." Sat smiled putting his hand away.
"He's doing good...the commander took a liking to him. He's a pretty quick learner." Sayak said still looking concerned.
"Hmm good, that's what I expected." Sat said with a content smile. "Now if you please explain things, I'm terribly confused about so many things."