Chapter Text
Five days later, Mira arranged to meet Violet and Jesinia in a house above Chantara. Mira knew the owner, a friendly old lady who ran a store in the town, who’d let them use it as a private place to discuss the reports.
Violet and Jesinia arrived after dark. It was a small house, nestled among a copse of trees just out of town. Mira opened the door for them and ushered them inside. They gathered around the kitchen table, Mira pouring tea she’d made while she waited.
“So,” signed Mira, after the reports were spread on the table. “What did you find?”
Violet and Jesinia shared a glance. “Well,” signed Violet, hesitating. “It’s…”
“It’s no accident,” signed Jesinia.
“We think it’s no accident,” corrected Violet. “We don’t know anything for sure.”
“But they’re leaving stuff out on purpose?” signed Mira, frowning. “What— How do you know?”
“A lot of little things,” signed Violet, opening the papers they’d spent hours reading and annotating in their shared dorm. “But look at this.” She pulled a report out from the stack, the very first one she’d looked at in Whitlock’s office.
“This is a weekly report from Terria,” Jesinia explained. “They had a patrol report dark shapes in the woods.” She pointed to the official scouting report for that night. “That doesn’t mention it.”
Mira frowned. “It’s a weekly report,” she signed. “You’re supposed to editorialize it a little bit.”
“True,” signed Violet, reaching into the stack of reports. “But this one, this one, and this one report something similar. Two of those are Terria’s neighbours. None of these made it in the official report either.”
Mira frowned. “That is odd,” she signed. “But it could just be a mistake. What makes you think this is intentional?”
“Aside from the sheer number?” signed Jesinia. She nodded at Violet. “This.”
Violet pulled out a report and handed it to Mira. It was a one-off report—not a battle report, but not a standard weekly report either. It detailed a scouting mission where no less than nine riders in a riot of twelve had seen 3 riderless griffins—or at least what looked like griffins—trailing them, just barely within sight.
It was the sort of thing Command was supposed to be notified about. Any enemy sighting was important, but deliberately shadowing a patrol? That could be a sign they were planning an ambush or a raid, or even a full-on invasion.
Mira looked up from the report. “Did that not make the report?”
Violet shook her head.
Mira slumped back in her chair. “Damn. Someone’s fucking with the reports. Someone’s fucking with the reports? Is that…” She shook her head.
“It’s not proof,” signed Violet. “It’s, well, it’s not that strong evidence really.”
Jesinia nodded. “It would take a hell of a mistake to explain everything we’ve seen. But…”
Mira nodded. “We should assume something’s up.” She sat up and squared her shoulders. “Something’s up until we prove otherwise. So, I guess, that just leaves one question.”
Violet met her sister’s eyes and found steel there. “Do we protect ourselves and leave this alone?” she signed. “Or do we fucking do something?”
Violet met Jesinia’s eyes, and they nodded. Violet looked back to Mira, her brave, strong sister. She was nervous. Most people wouldn’t have known, but from the set of her jaw, the twitch in her eyes, Violet could tell.
“We fucking do something,” signed Violet.
Mira smiled.
“We fucking do something,” signed Jesinia. “I… I don’t know what we do.”
Mira stood up. “Neither do I,” she signed. “But we’re gunna fucking do something.”