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Major Tanya von Degurechaff stepped out of a tattered tent into the dry heat of the desert, sifting through a collection of documents written in a mix of Francois and the local languages, none of which she could understand. She shoved them in a satchel she found on the back of a chair, haphazardly slinging it on her shoulder as she looked over the rest of the camp. To say they had trashed the Republican camp would be an understatement, the roof of the concrete pillbox was caved in, the trucks burned and the various contents of the surviving tents had been haphazardly thrown out in their search.
Search was the wrong word, it implied they were looking for something specific instead of simply rooting around for anything useful. Looting was more accurate, not that she was ever going to admit that of course. It had been two weeks since they had broken the Free Republics encirclement and they were now just killing time for the next crisis or redeployment, whichever came first.
She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of raised voices from further in the camp, she adjusted the strap of her newly liberated satchel and headed towards the commotion. Her boots left tracks in the sand as she drew closer, the voices grew more clear and she quickened her pace. They weren’t panicked or angry but instead laughing and even cooing. She rounded the corner of a row of tents and almost did a double take.
Neumann was standing next to Visha and a few others from his company, holding a strange looking animal. Tanya squinted as she approached, it looked like a wolf but slightly off, it’s matted fur was the color of rust and was bizarrely thick for something living in the desert. It was small too, obviously, a pup with barely any teeth as evidenced by Neumann's lack of reaction at it’s biting his hand.
“What is it?” One of the men asked, obviously as perplexed as their commander even if he was unaware of her presence. Neumann looked it over, visibly thinking.
“At a glance? Definitely a Wolfdog, some stray must of mated with one of the wolves in the area. You can see it in the muzzle.” He had been training to be a veterinarian before the war and so it wasn’t a surprise he knew such things. Tanya had come close enough now that he couldn’t help but notice her. “Commander!” He attempted to stand at attention without letting the dog go, it looked comical as it fidgeted and tried to nip at his face.
“At ease Lieutenant,” Tanya spoke with her usual authority but her face betrayed her confusion and amusement. “Report?”
“We were searching the camp as ordered when one of the men found this dog rooting through the remnants of the kitchen ma’am. Otherwise, we found nothing.” Neumann scratched at the pups chin as he spoke, it tried to gnaw at his hand as he did so. One of the other men spoke up.
“Major, with your permission we’d like to bring it back with us.” Looking away from the dog Tanya was just confused now, to say this sort of thing was unusual for her was an understatement. It was completely alien to her. She felt sort of like a mother having to tell their child they can’t bring the rabid raccoon home with them.
“I-” She considered her words for a moment, Visha seemed especially enamored with it, constantly trying to get an ear scratch or head pat in past its harmless bites. “I don’t see why not, I’m sure someone can find a good home for it.” It was the diplomatic answer and the most reasonable as far as she was concerned. No one protested, though the disappointment was still visible.
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It had been three weeks since then and two weeks since returning to the capital for mandatory R&R. Most of the battalion had taken the opportunity to visit their families, a few had stuck around but spent their days seeing the sights, even fewer had stuck around the Central Armies Headquarters. Tanya was, unsurprisingly, one such person. She had no real home or family to return too and she found a sort of serenity in the stereotypically tedious writing of reports and reviewing of dossiers. It reminded her of a different time, one without war and self-proclaimed gods.
Today she did not awake to the sound of an alarm clock as she was used too, but instead a knocking at her door. Her eyes opened slowly, she hadn’t noticed the change yet as she rose slowly. There was another set of knocks as she glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Visha called out to her from the hall as she picked up the clock to squint at it through the sleep still lingering. 11:00! She dropped the clock, shot out of bed and ran to the dresser and pulled a pair of pants from the drawer. “One-one moment Lieutenant!” She started pulling the pants up her leg, it was uncooperative and she found herself hopping around the room, she quickly lost her balance and fell to the floor with a thud. Her heart stopped as she heard the door open
“Major!” Visha stepped inside to find her commander in a comically large nightshirt, lying face down on the floor with her pants barely halfway up her right leg. She kneeled down beside the 11-year-old war hero. “Are you alright?” Tanya gave only a drawn-out groan in reply. “Uhm, this didn’t go quite how I pictured, but, happy birthday?” The major lifted her head to find her adjutant with a sheepish grin and holding a cup of coffee. “I made your favorite.”
“Birthday?” Tanya raised herself up so she was resting on her elbows, taking the coffee and sipping it, she hummed at the flavor. She was quickly realizing she honestly preferred Vishas coffee over any other.
“Well, maybe not your real one.” Visha offered. “But who knows where we’ll be for that, so we decided to pretend today is your birthday!” There was a pleased sort of smile on her face, like that was a perfectly sensible thing to decide on her own. “So we turned off your alarm so you could sleep in a while.” Tanya's eyes went wide.
“You wha-!” She was cut off as a small rust colored puppy charged through the door and licked her face. The Major desperately attempted to reel her head backward and raise her precious drink up and out of the dogs reach. Neumann stepped in a few moments later and picked up the dog, it looked almost comically small compared to him.
“Sorry Major, he got off his leash.” Neumann offered, Tanya raised herself up and sat cross-legged. She took a sip, visibly trying to process this already bizarre day.
“Lieutenant.” Both of her subordinates perked up at the mention of their rank, she set the drink down on the nightstand. “Why isn’t the dog still in the Desert? More importantly, why is it here ?”
“The Corporal we gave it too apparently couldn’t keep it.” Visha offered. “And, well, General Rudersdorf mentioned something about you playing with his Imperial Shepherd before the assault on the fjord.” Tanya’s eye twitched a bit, I knew I should have ignored the dog! She reprimanded herself, she was about to ask how her lieutenant had gotten in a conversation with the general but was cut off by the dog wriggling out of Neumann's arms and landing in her lap. It quickly set to work sniffing and licking her face, she pushed it away roughly only for it to run right back up and continue. “He likes you!” Visha declared. Tanya relented and scratched it behind the ear to see if it would distract it.
It did not.
“Major, I need to discuss the Duma with...you.” Rerugen stepped into the room reading a few reports as he spoke, his voice trailed off at the sight of Major Degurechaff. Sitting on the floor in a nightshirt petting a strange dog, which had snapped to look at him with the word Duma. There was a small pause as the dog, Tanya, and the lieutenants stared at Rerugen, he suddenly felt bizarrely out of place.
“Duma.” Neumann repeated, the dog switched to staring at him, tilting its head slightly.
“Duma!” Visha called to it. The dog once again turned to look at her, apparently getting more and more confused, almost mirroring the look on Rerugens face who opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.
“Duma.” Tanya stated with a sort of finality. Once again, the dog switched to her. It stared at her for a few seconds before setting to work licking her face again. Rerugen muttered something about coming back later and slipped out the door.