Chapter Three, Commision

"Then by the authority vested in me by his majesty the Emperor, the Council of Commanders, and the Court of Nobles I hereby commission thee, Lieutenant Alicea Stone of the 14th garrison battalion."

Commander Haelvan tapped Alicea on the head with the rod of order, a ceremonial sort of stick whose only other use was to inflict punishment on those who disobeyed orders.
"Rise Officer of the Imperial Army, and go forth to complete the tasks set before you."
Alicea stood up, her knees hurt from the hour she'd spent kneeling while she recited verbose oath of loyalty. She was glad to be done with that.

"Now hear your commander's first order."
She braced for the ceremony to continue in an equally boring and pointless manner.
"Don't get killed."
'Don't get killed'? That was it? She'd expected something like 'obey all orders henceforth and never dissent the will of the Emperor who Blah blah blah political nonsense blah blah'. To just be ordered to not die seemed awfully anti-climactic.
"I'll gladly obey that order commander."
"And I'll be glad to have you obey it Alicea. Your second order is the one you were commissioned for; bear my Call to Arms across all Gasca and bid its inhabitants to prepare to fight for their land and their lives. Send word back to me when you find a town or village large enough to field greater than a hundred men and I will send men to train and eqip them. Send recruits from smaller villages to the larger ones so that they can benefit from the training as well."
"Yes sir."
"And above all else, don't get killed. It was painful enough to lose you once; you wouldn't do that to me again, would you?"

It was an appeal by a father. But Alicea didn't think of him as a father. When she was a child who had taught her to walk? Who had given her the courage to stand against a fellow warrior in battle, helped her back up when she fell, and rejoiced beside her in victory? Who had taught her the patience of the oceans, to smell the earth as she hunted her prey, to dance and to laugh with the flame, and to sing with the wind while binding its fury to her blades? It would dishonor her entire childhood to simply thow aside everything Aurou had done for her. Haelvan was the one through whom her birth had come to pass, but Aurou would always be the one who had made her who she was.
But the Nielda would not understand that. Only Nond and Vel knew where she had come from, and refusing his love would be one of the harshest insults she could give. She may not have loved him, but Haelvan was a good man; he deserved at least the compassionate lie.

"Of course not, you have my word that I shall return safely. Should the whole of the Alpha's armies, with the Imperial Guard beside them stand in my way, I will return to your side."
She hefted her pack to her shoulders, brushed some dirt from her boots, set her axes to her sides, and her feet to the road.