Free Legon Restoration by Nicholas Taylor

threats like they did for us in Noris. Any other questions?"
    Another man asked how well the city was supplied and if routes were being cut off. "They are well supplied; being a port town they have considerable stores of goods." That was the end of questions.  
    Barnin was packed and ready to go, all of his men were, everyone had been living out of their packs since landing at Noris. As for the new guys...well Barnin figured they never got a chance to unpack from landing that day.  
    Barnin made his way to where Sara and Keither were staying. It was one of the houses near the docks that had been commandeered. It was large, the home of a naval officer, he knocked on the heavy wooden door. A portly man answered asking who he was looking for.
    "Keither and Sara?" Barnin said.
    The man nodded opening the door, "Down the hall and to the left."  
    Barnin walked down a hall with maroon carpet and wondered what Keither had done to earn such nice accommodations. He turned, almost walking into Sara.
    "Whoa sorry about that, how are ya Sara? Nice place by the way," Barnin said steadying her.
    "Oh thank you, it’s not all ours we share it with a few other people. This house is dedicated to relief staff, well those of us organizing the staff," her eyes shifted around. "I think they put us all on top of each other in this place so we wouldn't stop working," she confided.
    Barnin laughed. "Yeah, if you two are working with the Cona Republic now you’re going to be kept in just enough discomfort to make you work for a better tomorrow." Sara chuckled. "You guys too busy to talk?" he asked.
    She smiled. "Oh no, no, please come in, we are just over here," she said leading him to a doorway.  
    They walked into a room that was medium size with enough room for a bed and desk. Keither was at the desk hunched over some papers. "Evening Barnin, one moment," he said not looking up.
    "You think to him that I was coming?" Barnin accused Sara.
    She scowled and shook her head. "You really need to get over that, honestly it's not that weird."  
    Keither turned to look at him. "She’s got a point, I mean it's not like you haven't been around mental networking for, umm, I don't know, what four or five years now?"  
    Barnin wasn't going to have this conversation, instead he made sure his mind was protected and changed the subject. "We are leaving to go to Bonta tomorrow morning, are you lot doing anything for that battle?" he asked.
    Sara looked down, and Barnin didn't need to network with her to know what she was thinking. A few years ago he would have told her not to worry, that he would be fine and so would everyone in his unit that they knew...but that was a few years ago and Barnin knew that he couldn't make those promises, not anymore.
    Keither answered. "No, we are dealing with things here. I suspect that we will spend most of our time in Noris unless they decide to move us closer to the front to handle coordination there."  
    "That's good, Noris is a good town and the further into the war we get the safer Noris will be," Barnin said feeling comforted that at least some of his friends may not be in harm’s way.
    * * * * *
    Iselin leaned over the back rail of the Lux looking out at the empty horizon. The sun was just a sliver, casting the sky in deep oranges and blues. Her eyes swept the black water looking east to where the moon rose higher in the heavens. Noris and the coast were long out of sight even for her powerful eyes. So much in the world had changed in just a few short weeks. Emma came up next to her.
    "Hey Em, how are you?" Iselin asked.
    "No Ise, how are you? I've been that person staring out at the waves before, what's on your mind?"  
    Iselin breathed out heavy. "I don't know, it’s a lot to take in. I mean, life feels so out of control on the one hand, but on the other when my parents were my age when the War of Generations started. Also, my husband is a class eight. I’ve always believed him to be the Everser Vald, but part