After dinner with just the pair of them, Jinn sent her off to her room, giving her the night for herself. Ordinarily she would read the journal with Kalys. That wouldn't be happening for a while, and she had agreed to wait for him to return before continuing with it.
She started to strip out of her uniform, startling a little as Mika came out of her bathroom. She laughed at Sun's jumpiness.
"I have a bath all ready for you," she told her.
"Thank you," she breathed out, hand to chest to calm her pounding heart.
"So, how did your first day go?" Mika asked, taking Sun's coat for her and taking a seat on her bed while they spoke.
"It went," she replied with a shrug. "Hopefully I haven't fucked up already. There was a lot of reading."
"So why bother becoming a Revenant anyway?" She asked. "I've always wondered. I know you were forced into the Academy, but your brother has guardianship of you now; you could just tell him you don't want to, and I'm certain he would pull you out."
"I do want to, though," she said.
It was possible there was a little bit of brainwashing going on from the training. But she had been working towards becoming a Revenant for so long it was almost inconceivable to go and do something else. What else would she even do? Besides, Kalys allowed the Revenancy in large part because of the fact she had spent so many years training for it. If she gave it up, he might expect her to start behaving like a proper lady – including getting ready for marriage. She would rather be a Revenant than marry some stranger and have children with him.
"What about you?" Sun asked. "Is babysitting me the culmination of your life's work?"
Mika laughed. "No. I do plan to get back out there eventually, once your brother feels the threat to you has passed."
"What threat?"
"Your family, mostly. He's not convinced one of them wasn't behind what happened in Solaryse."
"Grandfather said they haven't figured out who orchestrated it yet. Do you think it was an Illusen?"
"I don't know. I doubt it was the incompetent drunk you replaced, though. Could have been his mother."
"What incompetent drunk?"
"Kalys's heir before you," she replied. "Irik Illusen. Of course, his title as heir was just a precaution; everyone expected your brother to marry and sire a child or two. But I think people started getting their hopes up when your brother still hadn't married."
"Still? He's what, mid to late twenties? He has plenty of time."
"Nobility tend to get that sorted young. And your brother hasn't even shown the slightest bit of interest in the opposite sex. There's even a rumour that he prefers the company of men."
Sun felt herself go cold. A rumour like that could ruin a person. It was why she and Zen never uttered a word of Nick's sexuality to anyone. It would damage his reputation; it could drive his colleagues to have him removed as a Revenant. They had always been worried it could get him expelled.
"I don't think I need to know this about him," she said, heading for the bathroom to take her bath.
"Oh, I don't think it's true," Mika's voice drifted out to her from the bedroom.
She knew Sun preferred to bathe alone and gave her her privacy. Sun stripped and slid into the bath with a contented sigh. Working with her grandfather had been draining. The work itself hadn't been particularly difficult for the most part. Just a lot more reading, having to pen replies to various contacts, family members, business partners... The list went on. There were accounts to go over and manage and various allowances for different family members to send out.
Sun had access to some of these accounts – to pay staff, put on events, and for charitble works. She'd never tapped into any money for that last one, but she would need to get onto that so she could help the people in the slums. She would get onto that tomorrow. No doubt she would need her grandfather's help figuring it all out.
She continued to chat with Mika through the open bathroom door until Sun got out. Mika braided her hair and then headed off to her own room for the night.
Sun took a seat on her bed, finally getting to Emily's letter. She greeted Sun, asked how she was doing, and talked about her own life since the event at court and an influx of marriage proposals. Some of which she was even considering. She asked about Sun, how the academy was going, and if she had made any progress on their plan to funnel food, clothes, and medicine into the slums. She had also scribbled out some of her own ideas on how to go about it before letting her know Nathaniel sends his well wishes and signing off.
Before Sun went to sleep, she got off the bed and went to her desk to write a reply. She wanted to get it sent off tomorrow.
It wasn't as long as Emily's, but she informed the other girl she was a Revenant now, that her brother had gone on a mission to sort out the North, and that she would make a start on figuring things out on her end as soon as she could. She sent her best back to Nathaniel before wishing Emily luck in her husband hunting.
She had never sent a letter before but knew where to leave it to have it sent off. It was something the staff took care of. Lucky for her, because she had no idea how to send one or where she would have had to take it otherwise.
Before returning to the bed, she paused a moment, looking at the stationery that had been provided for her upon moving here – the fancy stuff. She hadn't used it before. It even came with wax and a seal with the Illusen crest on it.
Taking a page, she set it in front of her. Would it be strange to write Kalys a letter so soon? Not joining him in the solar for their reading after dinner was something she truly missed.
After a long debate with herself, she started writing to her brother. It wasn't much, just that their grandfather had arrived and that her first day as a Revenant went well. She hoped that his journey was going well, asked him to keep safe, and signed off. She used the fancy ribbon, wax, and seal and then took the letter to the aviary.
The aviary wasn't a place she had gone often, and the few times she had, Kalys had been there. Even the staff kept their distance. It was a spacious place, well cared for, and so were the birds inside. There were openings at the top so they could come and go as they pleased. Kalys had been adamant they were companions, not pets. But they were amenable to carrying messages. He had told her a long time ago how to use them to send messages to him. They would find him, and they knew their way home. She didn't know how it worked, but he said it would, should she ever have need.
Sun went to the nearest raven; she was always surprised how big they were up close. It watched her but didn't try and attack. She attached the rolled-up letter to the raven's leg, holding her arm out to it so it could hop on. She carried it outside and let it take off, rubbing at the scratches it had left in her skin.
"First time I've seen you use the ravens."
Sun looked over to the voice, finding Mika standing on the verandah, leaning against one of the supports.
"I thought you were in bed."
"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't know where you were at all times. I don't have to be so stealthy about it now."
"Not sure how I feel about that," Sun muttered, making her way towards her.
Mika shrugged. "How you feel about it is sadly irrelevant."
Sun shot her an irritated glance for that one, only making Mika laugh lightly.
"Writing to your brother, were you?" She asked as they took their time walking back to Sun's room.
Sun nodded. "I was replying to Emily; I thought I should send something up to Kalys as well."
She wasn't trying to make it sound like it had been an afterthought, but better that than anyone figuring out her secret.
They walked back to Sun's room, Mika bidding her goodnight. Back in her room, Sun climbed into bed. She liked to make the most of a good night's sleep inside of the warmer months, not that it carried over to the sleepless winter nights. But given everything that had happened, sleep had been difficult to find.
Construction on the underground sleeping quarters had begun a while ago, and they were certain they would have it completed before winter, much to her relief.
When she woke in the morning, she stayed for breakfast with her grandfather, who actually walked her to the manor gates afterwards and wished her a good day before she left. She did mention she would be visiting her friend after work today and might not be home in time for dinner. He told her he would have a later one; he would wait for her.
With that, she headed off to Perdition.
When she got to the Eighth, there still weren't too many people there, but Cage had mentioned that was the norm. She couldn't see Cage or the Commander around, so she went straight to her desk to start slogging through the reports. Every day more came in, some via courier, most by the radio communications they had. There were many stationed beyond the range of their radios, so they had to resort to couriers. The villages on the borderlands were like that – no electricity, no radios, completely cut off.
It was only her second day, and she could see how this could get monotonous. But she would have to pay her dues before she could go out on the more interesting missions.
The saving grace was that Cage dragged her out for training after lunch. She had seen him do it a few times throughout the day with different people. He said it was to keep them all sharp and in shape, but she suspected he just liked the excuse to get out of work. While training wasn't her favourite thing to do, it was a nice break from the paperwork.
After work she went to the infirmary. Nick hadn't arrived yet, and Zen was wide awake and clearly bored. He bombarded her with questions about her first and second day, completely disillusioned by her answers. It was a lot of paperwork and a lot of reading.
"Well, the Second can't be like that, surely? Of course your division would have paperwork considering what you guys do," he said, almost like he was trying to convince himself that was the case.
"Maybe it has even more paperwork. Can you imagine all the incident reports, injury reports, and inventory of your weapons?" She grinned, completely talking out of her arse but hoping to worry him just a little.
The look he shot her was unimpressed, not giving her the reaction she sought.
A knock at the door had her shooting to her feet and bowing. Even Zen tried to sit up straighter.
"Oh, no need for that," Commander Dyne said as he strolled into the room, a wide grin on his face.
It was weird; as happy as his smile was, his slate-grey eyes looked completely devoid of that humour. The air in the room suddenly felt thick and heavy.
Sun stood up straight, for the most part watching him but casting a questioning glance towards Zen for a split second.
"So, Zen Farron," he said, coming to Zen's bedside. "My new recruit..."
"Yes, Sir."
"Just thought I would come in and meet you. Clearly you can't come to me."
He sounded amused by the whole situation; still, none of that reflected in his eyes.
"Would if I could, Sir," Zen said, looking mighty uncomfortable.
Zen's eyes shot to Sun for a second, who was equally uncomfortable. But she had adopted the blank aspect she'd seen her brother use so often in front of... well, pretty much everyone who wasn't her or their grandfather.
"A shame you're still laid up here. They tell me another week or so."
Zen nodded.
Commander Dyne's eyes wandered over to Sun. "And the little Illusen. A friend of yours?"
The question was directed at Zen. "Closer to a sister, Sir."
"But not a sister. We all know who she really belongs to," he flashed that too-wide smile again before turning to the door.
"Get well soon, Farron. Much work to be done. Bye bye, little Illusen."
With that, he was gone, both Sun and Zen relaxing a bit in his absence.
"That was weird," Sun whispered, just in case he was still in earshot.
Zen nodded, albeit reluctantly. That was his new commander after all. Sun was a bit miffed about the Commanders comment on her 'belonging' to someone. It just rubbed her the wrong way, but she thought that might have been what he was going for. She didn't know much about Commander Dyne except that he was in charge of the Second.
"Well, have fun with that guy," Sun muttered, sitting back down and propping her feet up on the bed.
"I probably won't even see him much. How often have you seen Mercer?"
"Once. In two days."
He gave a 'well, there you go' gesture, like that settled that.
Nick entered the room, his brow furrowed as he pointed back out the door. Obviously referencing Commander Dyne.
"Did he say something to you too?" Sun asked.
Nick nodded. "Made a backhanded compliment about me going straight to a tiered position."
"All right, so maybe he's a bit of a wank," Zen said. "Still think I could learn a lot from the Second."
"Don't doubt it," Nick told him. "Was he a jerk to you guys as well?"
"Sort of," Sun shrugged. "Not a jerk, just a bit... off, I guess. So, how have your first two days gone?"
Nick shrugged as he dropped into his chair. "A lot of paperwork."
Zen heaved a dramatic groan, and Sun couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at both the sound and Nick's questioning look.
They had managed to evaporate the uncomfortable atmosphere Dyne had brought with him.