There weren't a lot of memories from recent years that Nuri can point at and say it was a good memory. But her favorite one to revisit was by far, her first one of Aaliyah. It had been another day of training, about a month after being moved to the soldier's barracks for true military training. They were all doing laps around the area, it took all of the coping skills Nuri had gotten while in Dorian to keep herself going. On lap 12 of 15, she stared off to the other training areas she passed, until her eyes landed on one person who was doing burpees with ease. It was almost pathetic to watch the others attempt theirs. The girl had gotten Nuri's attention in a way no one had ever before. Sure, she had her few crushes in school before Dorian but they had been fleeting at best. A seven year olds choice in crush was pretty limited to who can run the fastest or who can answer correctly the most often.
But Nuri felt her stomach twist itself into knots everyday before training and stretched at the mere thought that she might catch a glimpse of her mystery crush. Nuri was hyperaware, more the usual, of what was going on around her just for a chance to see her. Over time, Nuri got glimpses of who she was, her laugh and smile mezmerised Nuri. Until one day, she was sitting down in the mess hall, eating what they called food when her crush sat right next to her. Nuri felt her ears heat up and used all of her willpower to keep her cheeks from heating up.
"I've noticed you watching me." She said, sliding next to Nuri with her tray. "I'm Aaliyah and you are?"
Nuri looked at her, taking in Aaliyah up close, seeing her blue eyes and ginger hair up close. It looked surprisingly well taken care of, despite where they were. "Oh, um, I'm Nuri." She muttered, trying her best to not avert her gaze from Aaliyah's blue one. Aaliyah smiled, and Nuri could feel herself melt from that being directed at her.
"I've noticed something about you." Aaliyah paused, leaning in closer. Close enough that Nuri could feel Aaliyah's hot breath fan against neck and ear. "They haven't broken you yet, right?" Nuri swallowed, her stomach doing flips. Unable to find the words, she simply nodded to answer. Aaliyah smirked and handed Nuri a piece of scrap paper under the table, her fingers grazing against Nuri's. "Read this when you're alone, then follow its instructions."
With that, Nuri pocketed the paper before returning her attention back to her tray of slop. Together, they ate in silence for the rest of the evening. Nuri opened the folded piece of paper to read what it said late that night, after everyone had fallen asleep. It told her what time to arrive at an empty unused room. That morning, she slipped into the room with no one watching her, with 20 minutes until training started that morning. She felt her heart jump out of her chest when she was met by not just Aaliyah but by several other people.
That day, she was briefed on what was going on behind the scenes. That yes, there was a plot to start another war between the nations, that the nobles were helping fund and plan it. But there was also a growing resistance movement across the country, of both lower and upper class people sick of the constant threat of war looming in the background. That Nuri had been noticed and picked by Aaliyah to join them. She was given a callsign, something that would help them communicate between notes without the risk of getting caught. Firefly was hers, Aaliyahs was bunny and so on.
Today, she found a note with her callsign written on it. She swallowed and opened it. One of their messengers had been caught last night, noted to be missing from today's drills. It was up to Nuri to find out if they were alive, how much information they gave, how to get them to escape and onto a nearby docking boat to escape the country. Nuri felt her heart race, it wasn't the first time a messenger had gotten found out and captured but it would be her first to rescue them. She had been told that the worst possibility was that they were injured too much to be saved, in which case she would have to 'put them down' as Williams said.
She hoped that she wouldn't have to, she wasn't sure how she would sleep after that. If she could sleep after that. In the dead of night, between shift swaps Nuri made her way to the makeshift prisons. A place that the officers tried to deny but everyone knew was there, just that no one talked about. Sneaking around the building, her heart in her throat until she came across one of the only occupied cells.
"Bluebird?" She whispered their call sign, making the person look up. Messengers weren't let in on the more important things behind the scenes, even Nuri wasn't offered that privilege often. But they still held valuable knowledge to anyone trying to bring them down. What broke her heart was it was just a young girl. With sparkling hazel eyes and freckles on her dirty face, "Are you okay?"
Bluebird paused before nodding, "I'm okay, just bruised and a little battered." Her soft voice is almost melodic. Nuri bit her bottom lip, she wondered if her youngest sister Erin sounded like her. If she looked like her.
"That's good, did you say anything Bluebird?" She asked, her stomach twisting in knots at her sudden silence, "Bluebird, did you say anything?" she asked again, but harsher. The tone she often used when dealing with someone who thought her an easy target for bullying back in public school.
"No, I didn't. Nothing." She said, tears running down her face. Nuri grimaced, was she telling the truth?
"If you told them anything, no matter how small it seems to you, you have to tell me." Nuri whispered, moving closer to the bars, "If not, it could end in disaster."
Bluebird let out a soft sob, "I told them about the meeting room and.. And… they broke something." She sobbed. "They hurt me real bad."
Nuri let out a soft sigh, "Where, do you know what they broke?" She asked, hoping it wasn't a leg. An arm, a collarbone, anything but the legs.
"My ankle. I can't walk, limp a little but that's it." She whispered and Nuri felt her stomach plummet. Worse case scenario, of course it had to be.
"Okay, I'm gonna get you out." Nuri whispered, pulling out some tools she had brought with her and began to saw away the bars. Her dagger felt heavy where it was hidden, suddenly having a purpose instead of being a backup plan. Keeping as quiet as she could until she broke enough bars to lift bluebird out. She was tiny but it was hard to mistake the muscles under Bluebird's skin.
She helped Bluebird under a small cut in the fence, not noticeable unless you were looking for it. After getting both of them under it, she led Bluebird into the forest. She whispered the instructions of how to get to the boat and where to hide, while she pulled the dagger from its sheath. When Bluebird turned to her, Nuri felt hesitant. Her hazel eyes darted to Nuri's dagger and her hopeful face fell.
"Oh." Bluebird whispered, "You're gonna…"
Nuri felt the tears she had been holding back fall. "I'm sorry, you aren't gonna make it to the boat."
"I will, I can. I'll hide for as long as I need to get better." Bluebird pleaded, "Just please, don't." She whispered, both of them crying at the situation they were put in. All because a guard happened to be walking by and snatched Bluebirds letter.
"No, you won't. You could barely stand with my help." Nuri reasoned, "If I don't, you could get captured again. And Bluebird, you can't sing any more songs to them." With her mind settled, her reasons laid out bare for both her and Bluebird to see.
Nuri walked back to camp, her dagger once again hidden but Nuri knew it was blood soaked. Her hands stained red from the act she committed. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she silently sobbed herself to sleep in her bunk. She wondered if they would find her body, they probably would due to the dogs they trained in those woods sniffing her out. "I had to." Nuri whispered. "I had to."