For the next three days, Ten ignored Sunniva. He was giving her the silent treatment in the worst possible way. He wouldn't even stand within three feet of her. Sunniva quickly learned to ignore his presence too.
Mithra, on the other hand, seemed to warm up to Veroth quite a bit. He was no longer grumpy and overly skeptical. Even Sunniva had gotten used to Veroth's sarcastic remarks, which she had learned was his way of telling jokes.
All three of them happily chatted along the way while Ten sulked from behind. He was always brooding, though his senses remained alert as they walked through the unfamiliar terrain.
If the other two guys noticed the tension between Sunniva and Ten, they chose not to say anything. But that didn't keep Veroth from being curious. He had never seen Ten so moody.
Sure, Ten had always been a serious man, but if he had ever felt any other emotions (which Veroth suspected, until now at least, that he didn't) he seldom showed them.
Veroth made vice-captain of the Windward Army for a reason. Not only was he talented in combat, but he also had an undying loyalty towards Ten.
When they met a decade ago, both of them young foot soldier recruits, Veroth found Ten to be irritating and unsociable. Yet he had to admire pure talent that even Veroth, who had thought highly of himself, just didn't possess. Admiration and respect blossomed.
Veroth was Ten's self-proclaimed best friend. He knew Ten had nobody else, but did Ten consider him a friend or just a subordinate?
Whatever the matter was, he couldn't stand that his captain was acting childish and straight up mean to Sunniva for an inexplicable reason. Veroth couldn't believe that he thought for a minute, maybe his captain had actually fallen head over heels for a woman.
How foolish. Clearly, he had been wrong. Dragging those two along with them had all been in the name of duty and redemption even if Veroth had grown a bit fond of their company.
He decided to give Ten his piece of mind about how he was treating Sunniva. After dinner, before he took the first night's watch, he approached Ten.
"Captain Wonizigan?" Veroth rarely addressed him so formally. "Could we talk?"
Ten raised his eyebrow. "Talk? What do we have to talk about, Vice-Captain Trellis?"
His voice was icy, but Veroth did not back off.
"About why mom and dad are fighting."
"What?" Ten scowled.
"Why aren't you talking to Sunniva? You won't even stand within three feet of the girl."
"Are you really questioning me about that, Veroth?"
"Yes, because it's honestly ruining the group dynamic."
"Group dynamic?"
"We are going to be traveling with them for another three and a half weeks. Do you suppose you will keep ignoring her?"
Ten stilled.
"Please just make up with her. I don't what the issue is, but you've never been an unreasonable person, captain."
&
Ten switched with Veroth halfway through the night. For the entirety of his watch, all he could think of was his conversation with Veroth and about Sunniva.
Sunniva. Sunniva. Sunniva.
She was an enigma, for sure.
Two months earlier, when Ten had been summoned to the capital to meet with Northern Council, he had been told he had one chance to redeem himself and his army. What was more effective than punishment? More work.
Two months earlier
"A letter came to summon us to the capital, sir." Veroth had entered Ten's study without so much as a knock.
"Then we must go."
"Just us."
"I see," Ten nodded.
When they arrived at the capital, Ten and Veroth went straight to the Council's meeting place. The Northern Council was known for enjoying fanciful things; they had built a teahouse entirely for the purpose of hosting Council meetings.
Of the seven Council members, Ten had only met one of them before. Caine, or Old Caine as Ten called him, was a gnarly old man who spoke in prophecies. Back when Ten was still a soldier under General Roland's command, he had ran into Old Caine leaving the General's office.
"Ah! There you are!"
Ten looked behind him then back. "Me?" He pointed at himself.
Old Caine gingerly held out his hand for Ten to take.
Ten hesitantly took the old man's wrinkled hand in his.
Old Caine nodded knowingly. "You've lost something recently, but fear not, you are fated to find it again."
Ten pulled his hand away and took a step back.
"We will meet again then." Old Caine said.
That had been well over seven years ago. Now, as Ten entered the teahouse and came face to face with all seven members of the Northern Council seated at round a table, he searched for Old Caine's weathered face among them.
Ten saw Old Caine, but if Old Caine recognized him, he didn't express so. The old geezer probably forgot, Ten thought.
He knelt down one knee and bowed his head, Veroth followed suit. "I've arrived, Masters. You summoned me?"
They both stood before the Council. A middle aged woman wearing a purple velvet robe waved her hand at Veroth to dismiss him.
Veroth bowed at the waist, once to her, and then turned and bowed to Ten before exiting the room. "I'll be waiting outside, sir," he said in a low voice.
Ten gave him an acknowledging look.
The man sitting at the center of the table with slicked back white-blond hair spoke as soon as the door closed behind Veroth, "Captain Wonzigan, you know what you've done wrong. I can't even blame your men for the decision you made for their sake. In fact, I almost understand it. However, not following orders is not following orders."
"You can redeem yourself and your men," another plainly dressed man with a black beard said. "We've picked you for this sensitive task. It requires the utmost secrecy. You are suitable given your…neutral background."
Old Caine explained, "You may or may not have heard about the missing Knowledge Keepers, gone without a trace. Our sources say the Southern Knowledge Keepers are virtually all gone. We need you to retrieve the last Keeper."
An elderly woman with gray hair tied into a neat bun, this time, spoke, "We fear whoever is behind has plans for something far more atrocious. The Vault is an institution that has been standing for thousands of years and is well respected by both Kingdoms. It is an alarming act."
Ten knew the Vault well. The institution called the Borderlands home, but their compound was a territory of its own, filled with strange rituals and secrets. Magic that nobody else had access to existed there.
The blond-haired councilmen continued, "We cannot lose more Keepers. This is a mission of utmost confidentiality. Only you and one of your men—your vice-captain, I assume you'll want to take with you—will go to Sotaram Temple in the Southern Kingdom and bring back the Keeper that resides there. Any questions?"
It was a rather straightforward, non-perilous mission compared to the other things he had been ordered to do.
Ten remembered the most important part of this arrangement. "Will you restore my men's pay after the mission is successful?"
"Of course," the woman in the velvet robe agreed.
"Understood," Ten bowed and turned to leave.
"Wait," Old Caine called out. Ten turned to him. "We should add that the Keeper you are seeking is not a man…but is in fact a woman."