Tavaar - 59th Edition

General Sampka began his interviews with the company after eating, but he only made it through three. He and his commanders kept each warrior far longer than Tavaar expected. Tavaar allowed no one to go near, and Sampka successfully impressed those he had finished questioning with the need to keep silent about what had been discussed, so no one was really sure how things were going.

Tavaar and Sashwa had left their hut after changing clothes. They sat near the camp center and spoke with Wheylin as he finished cooking. When Seratahn finished her interrogation of Khaiu and Shello, the two brothers joined them. Seratahn sat with the other officers.

“So, how does it feel being a first lieutenant?” asked Shello.

Tavaar teased at him. “Don’t you know, ‘Lieutenant’? What’s it like being promoted to first lieutenant twice?”

Everyone laughed. Shello had a playful look about him.

“So, it’s going to be like that, is it? And here I was, all ready to give you a present.”

“Oh, right. Anything I dare accept in public?”

More Oohs and laughter.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Do you want to see it?”

“What have you got?”

“Probably a lot more than you can handle,” said Sashwa, drawing a huge laugh at Tavaar’s expense.

Tavaar let herself have fun and elbowed Sashwa in the ribs. Shello, after watching them tussle for a short while, reached behind and grabbed his pack. He reached inside and produced a first lieutenant’s patch: two silver-blue bars on a green shield. Everyone went quiet as he presented it to her. Tavaar sat and stared at it in amazement. The insignia of her new rank. She looked at Shello and smiled. Her eyes temporarily drifted to his left breast where another patch of identical rank was sewn.

“I cut it from my spare tunic,” said Shello. “I know yours should be a black shield, for mines, but this will do for now, won’t it? Will you take it?”

Tavaar wasn’t sure what to do. Technically, Shello was right: this was a Defense Line patch. Should she take it? She wanted to, and not just because she had earned the rank. But what would people think? What would Wheylin think? She looked at him and he smiled, nodding his head. But before she could take it, Khaiu spoke.

“I think she wants you to sew it on for her, little brother.”

A loud jumble of Oohs and laughter filled the campsite. At first, Shello blushed. Then he saw Tavaar’s red face.

“I do have needle and threat!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t you dare!” cried Tavaar, pointing at him.

“She’s playing coy again. We’re going to have to hold her down, folks,” cried Sashwa, throwing Tavaar onto her back and holding her.

Khaiu, laughing, held her, too, and others came to help. Even Wheylin! Shello, also laughing, and holding the patch in one hand and a needle and thread in the other, knelt over her.

“Now, hold still, Darling, or I might stick you,” he said.

“Oh, she would love to be stuck by you, Shello,” said Ahzbah. Once again, Shello went beet red.

This was just the sort of play they had all engaged in just a few years back at village bonfires. Tavaar had often been the victim of the others. One on one, the males respected her and granted her her due. But in the group, she was the patsy. It had not taken long for everyone to fall into past behavior. Except it wasn’t the past. And this behavior was only a step away from the kind of behavior that had got the company into trouble. Tavaar had two fears. One was for the company. The other was for herself. This had to end.

“Stop!”