It was in the evening Rashen headed home after helping Hanabi and the Grittshore Watch with the children. By tommorow they'll be set to leave Grittshore for Lambrid where they'll start their new lives.
Rashen was still amazed at Almyrah's taming ability. He had never seen a lightning tamer before,he never even thought it was possible to tame lightning,there were still so many mysteries surrounding the art of Taming he didn't know. One thing he did know however was that taming abilities can be affected by strong feelings and emotions and that Almyrah living in constant fear of Madam Rosaline probably stunted her powers. He was still impressed that she could gain some level of control over her powers in such a short period. He wondered if Lekan,Dontei and the other children would also awaken their taming ability now that they don't have to live in constant fear.
His thought process would come to a halt as he saw a lanky and awkward man walking towards the building with a bag over his shoulder and one hanging on his waist. Rashen, suspicious, quickly approached the man.
"Hi there!" Rashen said startling the man,
"Excuse me but I have no business with you." He said walking away from Rashen quickening his pace.
"Are you sure? Because it looks like you're headed towards the Imperial Headquarters over there."
"Again that is none of your business." He said anxiously and walking even faster.
"Are you looking for Miss Marun?" Rashen asked. The man came to a stop immediately and turned to face Rashen,
"How do you know Miss Marun? Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing. I'm Imperial Cadet Rashen of the Grittshore Division. And you are?"
The man looked at Rashen with skeptisism but then instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "You're an Imperial Cadet? That's good." He opened the zipper on his waist bag and took out stacks of envelopes. "This is the mail." He said handing them over to Rashen.
"Mail? I didn't think we got these here." Rashen said staring at the stacks of envelopes in his hands.
"Imperial mail only comes at the end of the month." The man explained,
"Imperial Mail? You don't look like a Force approved Postman." Rashen said now turning his gaze towards him,his turn to stare skeptically.
"Well yeah, that's the point. I have to disguise myself so as not to get attacked here, despite everything that's happened Grittshore is still the most crime ridden region in Ephyre you know."
"Fair enough." Rashen said,his attention turning back to the mail at hand when his eye caught a special seal,the seal of the Ranking Commander of Owellis. Even more eye catching that the letter was addressed to him. Without so much as saying goodbye to the Postman he bolted towards the building.
"Hey!!!" The Postman called out to Rashen.
"What?" Rashen said hurriedly,
"I feel like I've seen you from somewhere before...you said your name was Rashen?" He asked.
"Yes... I'm sorry but I've really got to get going."
"What was that all about? What's going on?" Macy asked coming out the door, Rashen quickly handed her the rest of the mail except the one addressed to him.
"We've got mail." He said hurriedly walking away from her.
For all his agitation he dared not knock on Miss Marun's door before entering. He waited, pacing in place till he heard her say come in. He wasted no time walking into her office,it still looked exactly the same as Rashen had seen it when he first entered. He took a seat opposite Miss Marun at the desk.
"What's this about Cadet?" She asked. Rashen simply handed her the letter addressed to him. Rashen watched her as she carefully read through the letter, with how long it was taking he knew that just like him,she was reading through more than once to make sure she didn't miss any details. She finally dropped the letter,
"So it's time for that already huh?"
"Yeah. I've been summoned for a hearing in the Imperial Court. Apparently Raspin and Ngoko finally came to so it's the perfect opportunity for me to stand trial." Rashen said,his heart beating faster with every word. He knew very well that he was on probation and that eventually he would have to stand in front of the Court Marshall for what happened that night,but he didn't anticipate it happening this soon.
"Well that's the perfect opportunity isn't it? During the mandatory three weeks leave? Depending on how things might turn out it's probably for the best your fellow Cadets attend the hearing with you."
"Is that okay? What about you? You'll be here all alone."
"I've been here all alone fool. I'll be fine." She said dryly.
"O- Okay....thank you." Rashen said. He couldn't hide the fact that he was nervous. If the hearing goes badly he'll be locked up again and for a crime he didn't commit. His breathing got faster and he could feel the blood rushing to his legs. The letter in his hand,he was about to leave Miss Marun's office when she called out to him,
"Cadet!"
"Yes Miss Marun?"
"If you truly believe that you're innocent then you have nothing to worry about."
"....thank you Miss Marun." He said mildly surprised at her words.
Various thoughts flew through Rashen's mind as he walked to the Dining Hall. He was extremely nervous about the hearing, standing in front of the Ranking Commander and other Warrant Officers would be nerve wracking for anyone,but he was glad that Macy and Gayle would at least be there with him. He was also delighted beyond anything that Raspin and Ngoko were fine. He couldn't wait to introduce them to Macy and Gayle.
He walked through the dining doors to find Macy and Gayle sitting opposite each other. Gayle was carefully staring at a small plastic card in his hands,the rest of the mail in front of him while Macy just sat there,her expression unreadable,so unreadable in fact it threw Rashen off. She turned her head to face him and for some reason Rashen got the feeling that he was in danger just from looking into her eyes.
"What's the matter?" He asked slowly and carefully. She gestured towards the letter that had been kept at the end of the table where Rashen stood. He looked at the envelope,it was a big surprise for him that the letter was addressed to him. An even bigger surprise that the letter had the symbol of the Goldenfire Family on it. He turned back to look at Macy,he was at a loss of words.
"Why don't you read it?" She said coldly. He complied taking out the letter.
It was a letter from Basterious Goldenfire,the first son of the Head Mother of the Goldenfire Family, inviting him to the upcoming Goldenfire Banquet. Rashen read through the letter line by line, making sure he didn't miss anything. The letter mostly referred to him Imperial Cadet Rashen,until the very last sentence of the body of the letter which read ".....And so as the son of Emile Goldenfire,the third daughter of the Matriarch of the Goldenfire Family, it is expected of you to attend the prestigious Banquet."
Rashen read through that sentence over and over again. He checked the envelope to see if it truly was the Goldenfire symbol. He simply couldn't believe that any member of the family would address him as the son of his late mother. He didn't know how to feel about the letter, about the invitation. Between the order for the hearing and the invitation,he was overwhelmed. He pulled out a seat and sat down staring at the letter in sheer disbelief. He finally looked up to see his fellow Cadets, Gayle was still admiring the small plastic card,so much so that it seemed unnatural, meanwhile Macy had a more readable expression,one of ice cold fury.
"You're a Goldenfire." She said,her voice almost unrecognizable, Rashen was a bit taken aback.
"I.... what?"
"Don't play dumb with me Rashen!!!" She snapped slamming down hard on the table. "Are you not a Goldenfire? Did the letter not address you as the son of a Goldenfire?"
"I- It did...so what? It's just a stupid invitation anyways." Rashen said with a forced smile and a tone indicating that he was ready to change topics,Macy on the other hand was not done with him yet.
"So what Rashen? So what? So you lied to me,lied to us!"
"Excuse me?"
She slammed the table again even more violently, "I told you not to play dumb with me. When I asked you what family you were from you said you had no family."
"That wasn't a lie Macy." Rashen said,his voice steadily rising.
"Then explain the letter!" She demanded.
"What do you wanna know Macy?" He shot,
"What do you think?" She shot back.
"Yes my mother was a Goldenfire,but she's dead and so is my father. The Goldenfires never even once treated me like I was family, they treated me like I was an abomination. I never really considered them family either and that's all there is to it."
Macy got up still looking dissatisfied with his answer,she glared at him and he didn't look away. After a short pause she said to him,
"And you never even thought for once to tell us? Never thought that we deserved to know the truth too?"
"Between everything that's happened this past month it never really came up."
"You could've told us when we first asked." Macy said accusingly. Rashen stood up almost as quickly as she had,
"Who's this 'We' you keep talking about?"
"Gayle and I of course."
"Don't bring Gayle into this!" Rashen snapped, "Gayle never asked me about that,he never cared and he's definitely not as pressed about the matter as you are now."
"THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE HERE!!!"
"THEN WHAT IS THE ISSUE?!!!"
"You lied. That's the issue here."
"So what do you want me to do huh?"
"I don't know Rashen; You tell me!!" She shot.
Rashen couldn't quite understand why she was so upset at him. What does she want from him? If she was looking for an apology then she wouldn't get it because Rashen was not going to apologise for being his mother's son. He didn't want this,he didn't want this argument they were having especially after all they've been through this past month.
"Listen" Rashen said calmly, "I already told you,The Goldenfires don't consider me family,I don't know why they sent me this letter and why they addressed me the way that they did but all my life they never considered me family."
"That doesn't change the fact that you have their blood running through your veins." Snarled Macy. Rashen snapped,
"What's your problem? Why are you so angry about this? What part of our relationship would change had you known that my mother was a Goldenfire in the first place?"
"I don't know, maybe we wouldn't have any kind of relationship at all."
"You're being irrational Macy and hypocritical. You're mad at me for not telling everything but I don't know shit about you. How's that fair!!?"
"That's not the issue here. You were asked and you chose to lie about it,you don't trust us? You don't think we deserve to kno-?"
"MAYBE YOU DON'T DESERVE TO KNOW!!!" Rashen said without thinking. "Maybe you don't know the details of who I am and everything I've been through Macy. We are not that close."
Rashen was well aware that he shouldn't have said that,but he was far too angry at Macy to care. There was a long silence. They both just stood there glaring at each other,Rashen could tell that she wanted to attack him. He would be fine with her attacking him because he would just attack back,that was how angry he was at her at the moment.
"Scum." Macy said grimly. "You're just as dishonorable and deceitful as the rest of them."
She walked out of the room without so much as glancing at his direction,but even then Rashen knew the feeling he got off her,the same feeling he'd gotten so used to. She despised him. Then and there he knew that whatever friendship they had was over.