A Terran in Strange Lands

By the time that Haruna Jun Lei arrived in the bustling, not to mention broiling city of Searik, she was hungry, tired, poor as a beggar, irritably overheated, and about as low on hope as a girl could get in an antagonistic, foreign country. She was a tall scrap of flesh in Terran-style rags amongst a bustling city of entrepreneurs and old money, and even with her long, scraggly hair and Elementalist Temple insignia, she stuck out like a sore thumb.

The fact of the matter was that Haruna would never have set foot on the soil of the country that had run her own into the ground without an incredibly good reason. She had heard many fables in her youth about walking into the lair of the dragon, and, guiding her bony horse along the cobble roads that looked down a terraced bank towards an active volcano, Haruna felt that those childhood nightmares could not have reared their ugly heads more aptly if a scaly, winged terror rose out of the fire itself to torment her. Yet here she was.

The Terran was here because she had received a letter two months ago from one of the last people who had been important to her, with whom she'd lost contact. Ryan North had been an Ignisian soldier in the last few years of the war with Terra, sent with a few others to infiltrate the network of guerrilla fighters that had sprung up to protect Terra from the Queen's influence. The trouble for North was that he'd come to understand his enemies too well. He'd gone over to the Terran side.

Haruna had been there to watch it happen. When it came out that he was Ignisian he had nearly been put to death. His accomplices certainly had been. North had been Haruna's friend, though so she'd bargained for his life, and anyways, he'd wound up being valuable in the end. He was exchanged for several Terran prisoners after the treaty of Linpyur was signed, and that had been the last she had heard of him until his message had resurfaced.

Apparently North had been making a life for himself after the war, but for whatever reason, he had requested Haruna's personal help... the way he'd worded his letter, he'd practically begged for it. The fact that Haruna had managed to make a connection at all with someone out of her past had been shocking enough. That she was needed so urgently meant that the young woman had packed out of the nearest village to the coast-line as quickly as her mount could take her!

She'd been at a loss as to what to do when she finally landed in a port city on Ignis' shores. Failing finding any leads beyond the letter's vague instructions, she'd asked around until she'd been directed to Searik, where she had been told to seek out the military powers-that-be. Of course, it might have seemed strange that a Terran was seeking out an Ignis soldier... but luckily, North had placed an official seal on his letter. So far, Haruna had only been marginally hassled due to long-standing suspicions. She was already sick of it.

Searik was huge. Looking on the splendour of elemental control that allowed a volcano-side city to prosper under the licking flames and belching poisonous gasses of the active Caldera made Haruna feel small and tired -- moreso than ever. It was under these circumstances that she looked at the huge, ornate archway that separated the military block from the grounds. She felt her skin crawl at the thought of passing beneath them.

Deciding to take a moment to steel herself before she passed under the archway -- she needed to get to the Records Library -- Haruna tied Meito up out front of the public house across the street. She passed through the door, waiting for the inevitable glares that would come at the sight of her, a Terran, in an Ignisian bar in the bloody capitol of the bloody country. She stalked, straight-backed, eyes straight-forward, to the bar itself and seated herself with grave focus on one of the stools. If anyone had been keeping an eye on her, they'd get the treat of spotting a Terran girl spend the last few of her coins on an overpriced glass of whisky amidst stares that ran the spectrum from curious to loathing. She looked like she was trying for a poker face of apathetic ease, but Haruna was not capable of creating such a practiced facade. She was pink to the tips of her ears.

Kelly was a man of sharp intellect. Despite what most believe of Kelly, he would sometimes indulge in a catch and release program, finding someone of usefulness and either pinning a crime to them or actually catching them performing one. Those who knew of Kelly’s numerous reputations would rather become a snitch than a lifeless lump, and despite Kelly making it seem as though it was a difficult decision, he knew before he encountered these people that he was going to allow them to leave—provided they give him whatever information was needed. Filling jails with everyone who broke the law was a waste of resources and manpower; at least this way, Kelly could have criminals tattling on criminals to save their own behinds. Delegation of sorts, you see.

So it would be no stretch of the imagination when Kelly was alerted to Haruna’s arrival in Ignis, specifically once she began asking about Ryan North—a man that Kelly had deemed a possible traitor due to information that had found its way back to him after the war. Again, Kelly could have easily brought charges against Mr. North and it wouldn’t have mattered if they were relevant or not—the man’s good name would have been besmirched in the best case scenario and people would treat him with mistrust. Instead, Kelly added Mr. North to the web he had spun out over Ignis to see if the supposed traitor would lead the Gray Wolf to any other more valuable discoveries.

When one of Kelly’s thin tendrils was triggered, information came back to Kelly about a young Terran woman who was asking for Ryan North. Curious that a single, emaciated-looking female from Terra would come looking for the would-be traitor to the Queen, Kelly pulled on a few more strings to subtly track her whereabouts. Pointed in the direction of Searik, the Gray Wolf wasn’t sure if Haruna would even arrive in the capitol much less into the heart of the military grounds—doing so with any other reason besides a chat would be suicide. If a chat was going to happen, Kelly would make sure that he himself was the one to intercept the Terran female, ordering those involved in tracking her whereabouts not to approach Haruna.

As Haruna entered into Searik, information traveled back to Kelly at a faster rate, allowing him to place himself within her general vicinity should she become stationary. Expecting the Terran female to approach the Records Library, one of his personal staff quickly reported that she had been spotted entering an establishment across the street. Dressed in his official Ignis military attire, Kelly wore slightly baggy black pants tucked into a pair of knee-high black boots. Overtop of a loose-fitting white shirt with the laces undone to allow his chest to breathe was a deep red vest. The jacket that military officials are supposed to wear that had many of the bells and whistles that signified how much influence the officer had, Kelly had decided not to wear the damn thing—it was hotter than balls, and no one was going to approach him and tell him otherwise.

Crossing the street to the pubic house that Haruna had entered, Kelly moved like a man in his prime despite the gray that was beginning to creep onto the sides of his dark brown hair. The man was just a year over 40, but he had never been quicker or stronger in his life. His steel blue eyes set a gaze on people that would cause most to perspire in large quantities and his wolfish smile could be misconstrued as a predator would smile at its prey, knowing full well the chase was over. Kelly was going to ensure not to employ such an offense against Haruna when he met her—he wanted to seem welcoming and friendly, which made information extraction a little easier…sometimes.

Upon entering the business, it didn’t take a mind read to know which one was Haruna—a few Ignis soldiers and other patrons that were floating about had eyes in her direction. Stifling a laugh that was quiet enough to be heard only by Kelly himself, the man started toward Haruna’s seat. As he casually moved through the place, eyes shifted from Haruna to Kelly, and then quickly away from the situation; they wanted no part of Kelly’s business, whatever that business may be. Making excellent timing, as the bartender slid his hand across the table to collect the coins, Kelly approached Haruna from her right side, giving her a smile that would seem genuine, but only because of years of practice.

”You shouldn’t pay good coin for that whiskey…it’s not very good around here. Do you mind…?” Kelly had pulled out the stool next to the Terran female, making with the pleasantries so he didn’t seem like some stuffy, oppressive officer. His clothing suggested that he was some sort of military officer, but his tone and facial expression was something that one would expect from a friend.

The young woman gave one look up and down the officer as he pulled a stool out for himself, and Haruna felt all of that uneasiness snap into focus against him. She didn't know him, and that familiar smile threw her off. Still, she had made a living of contacting and dealing with strangers bent on a familiar cause, so she wasn't entirely unprepared for a scenario like this. Somehow, she'd been hoping that Ryan would be the one to show up out of the blue. For all she knew, this old man could have been the one responsible for the destruction of the land-bridge city of Haikar, and he was smiling like that at a Terran out of a sense of sadistic pleasure. In short, Haruna felt the need to mince words. "Does it matter if it's good or not?" she asked, nodding for him to take the seat. What else could she do? A quick sweep of the rest of the room showed that those who might have otherwise come over to toss her a choice word or two were suddenly very interested in keeping their heads down.

That was disturbing, but it was also interesting; this man was an officer of some kind, but either he was an important one or he was one who was controversial in some way. The girl clasped her dusty fingers together over the counter as she regarded Kelly's eyes with her own. Behind that friendly smile he still possessed an unnerving gaze. For a teenage girl, she seemed less inclined to drop her gaze than others, even if eventually she turned her head to the bar keeper to accept the pristine glass of amber liquid therein. It made sense, though: she wasn't an Ignisian prat, head filled with dreams of money and boys. She didn't have time to act her age, as far as she was concerned.

"Who are you?" Haruna wanted to know. What she really wanted to know was how this man was involved with her friend, and how deeply North had dug himself now that he was back on his home island. She had the sneaking suspicion that if Haruna was the one that North had chosen to contact, out of all of his friends, out of all of his family -- something that Ignisians were privileged enough to boast and take for granted -- that things were very bad indeed for the soldier.

Kelly studied Haruna’s reaction for a quick moment before she accepted his offer of sitting. Perhaps she was expecting Ryan North himself to show, in which case Kelly’s appearance might strike her as odd or suspicious. Despite her slight confusion, Kelly could tell from her eye contact that she didn’t know him and didn’t seem like the sort of person to look away either. Perhaps even if Haruna knew who Kelly truly was, she might still not look away. It was something of an enjoyable prospect as very few locked eyes with the Gray Wolf for any extended period of time.

Passing through these thoughts for a brief instant, Kelly smiled a little wider at Haruna’s response about whether or it mattered if the whiskey was good. Seating himself on the stool and letting out a small sigh, he tapped on the bar twice with the first knuckle on his index finger and used that same finger to point to Haruna, indicating that he wanted the same thing. His shoulders faced forward while he sat in the stool, but he turned his head to look over at her while speaking.

”It doesn’t matter if you’re drinking to go blind.”

Seconds after Haruna received her drink, the bartender poured the same for Kelly, carefully placing the glass in front of him. Kelly did not produce any coin for the drink up front, but the bartender knew he was good for it. Besides, this may not be the only drink Kelly will have at this little sit-down. Before answering her question, Kelly lifted his glass into the air between the two before sipping some of its contents.

”Who am I…”

Repeating the question as more of a statement, Kelly placed his whiskey glass against the bar but still held onto it. He idly swirled the whiskey within the cup as he watched the liquid sway before setting it down and looking and looking over at Haruna again.

”Let’s call me…an opportunity. You see, Ryan North—the man’s name that you evoked when you came to Ignis—does not know that you and I are sitting here having this little conversation.”

Kelly lifted his glass once again, knocking back the rest of the whiskey and tapping on the bar with his knuckle for a refill. That much whiskey going down his gullet elicited a squint of an eye and a clenched inhale. Enough of this would make one go blind. He turned back to Haruna again as he spoke, his smile less friendly and more…mischievous.

”What I’m curious to know is why a Terran female came all this way into Ignis territory to speak to a member of the Ignis military?”

The young woman had taken a sip from her glass, ignoring Kelly's jibe about going blind -- she didn't need talking to about going blind, not when back-country stills had become the safest bet to keeping all of that hard work away from the prying eyes and needs of Ignis trouble-makers -- when he downed his glass and dropped a name that Haruna was not expecting.

She nearly spat out the contents of her sip, using a free, dusty hand to cover her lips, and then swallow the contents. Coughing, yet trying not to draw attention to herself as the searing pain of under-aged alcohol flared through the back of her throat as though it was trying to take down her nasal passages, she looked away for a minute to attempt to regain her composure.

Haruna turned back a moment later, wiping her eyes with that same hand, but aside from the fact that she'd taken whisky down the wrong tubes, the glare she gave Kelly was murder. "What did you do to him?" she demanded, having pushed away her drink, focusing her full attention on the old man. That was the kind of talk that people used when they put someone to question, when they wanted to corroborate with the victim's family. It didn't occur to Haruna that perhaps Kelly Grey had cultivated that kind of enigmatic, threatening air simply to prepare and maintain a facade of danger to protect himself: Haruna'd heard that tone of voice in her own people when they'd captured soldiers. She had nightmares about her own family being talked about like that and... well... North might not be family, but he was still important.

On the other hand, Kelly wasn't the kind to be diverted. "You answer my question and I'll answer yours," Haruna bargained, reticent. She was feeling a sting of anxiety on top of her already justified paranoia. The war with Ignis was over; they had all been given the opportunity to disband, take their reward, and go home, hadn't they? Official Terran soldiers certainly had, and it had been life-as-possible for those who'd taken up arms without being officially called to duty. So with all that, Haruna couldn't give anything away that would implicate Ryan... he couldn't get into trouble when the war was over, could he?

Good spirits, she was a fucking idiot.

Haruna’s reaction over Kelly saying Ryan’s name caused Kelly’s grin to spread ever-so-slightly. The Gray Wolf usually had quite a poker face but the Terran’s physical response was quite humorous. And for some reason Kelly enjoyed using his words to put people on the defensive and then act as though that was not his intention, which he was about to do with Haruna. But receiving such a reaction from saying Ryan’s name must indicate some strong bond between the two—something Kelly was most curious in.

As the bartender came over to fill his drink, Kelly thought about to approach the situation. Should he feign worry and make Haruna believe that Ryan North was being tortured or worse? Or should he act as if Ryan was untouched, allowing Haruna to believe the man was not in any danger? Although before Kelly could respond, the Terran decided she was going to make a deal. Not the sort of deal that Kelly was used to, mind you—he was normally given the classic ‘I’ll tell you if you don’t kill me’ deal from those who had no other way out. As he looked over at Haruna, he made a facial expression that signaled analysis and enjoyment. His eyes narrowed as he attempted to figure out what Haruna was expecting Kelly to say, but his mischievous grin only spread wider at the fact that this young girl was trying to make a deal with the Gray Wolf. Not many stood up to Kelly but when someone did, it was very pleasing because it was a change of scenery, so-to-speak.

”Answer your question and you’ll answer mine? You want to make a deal with me?” The question was rhetorical as he did not expect a response from Haruna. Instead, Kelly turned away from her to take a sip of his whiskey, placing the glass back onto the bar before making a face of acceptance and turning back to her.

”Alright. I accept your deal. Now you asked what have I done to Ryan North? I’ve done nothing to him. He currently works for the Ignis military—a war veteran, even. But depending on your answers, Ryan North might find himself dealing with some serious allegations. So answer me this—what is your connection to Ryan North? Why come all this way?”

He allowed Haruna to know that he knew Ryan was not simply just a war veteran who worked in the military—he was an intelligence officer in the war. Ryan was actually part of another team that Kelly was aware of, sent in to infiltrate some guerrilla fighters in Terra. Kelly didn’t know the details, but Ryan was eventually exchanged back to Ignis as a prisoner of war, where he was given a clean bill of health and allowed to serve his country once again. But there were too many variables to deal with. As Ryan was part of an intelligence operation, he knew key information that, in the wrong hands, could have been damaging to the Ignis military. Sure, the war was over, but once a traitor always a traitor? Or perhaps Ryan infiltrated the guerrillas so well that he became sentimental to their cause? It wouldn’t be the first time it happened as Kelly had others in the military that he was watching for the very same reasons.

Maybe if Kelly could get Haruna to confirm or deny information about Ryan…

The way that Kelly looked Haruna over was deeply unsettling. She'd rarely been sized up like this before, never had to deal with making deals like this before. She'd been valued more as a messenger and a sentry during the war. Her attitude and her lack of emotional control, not to mention her youth and inexperience, had meant that she was never chosen for diplomatic or manipulative escapades, which meant that though Haruna was sometimes in danger, this particular fancy-footed kind was new to her.

Yet she knew that she had stumbled into a dangerous place the moment she'd passed through the grand archway of Searik's port-ward road, so now things were only going downhill. Some Terran's called it shale-surfing: a unique metaphor for out of the pan and into the fire, one need only shale-surf to the bottom of a land-slide before one was buried under tonnes of rock and gravel. Well, Haruna was in fine form for that today!

The girl's expression had hardened now, trying to protect against all but drooping her shoulders in relief as Kelly dropped the news of her friend's safety. Was it a lie? She didn't know, but Haruna was inclined to believe the man whose name she still did not know. She didn't trust him, and she didn't feel safe around him, but she wasn't entirely immune to his wiles, and she had definitely been given the impression that he could cause worse. He might even enjoy feeding her information about just how much worse things were, if it could made her squirm. She was trying her damnedest to give him a hard-nosed stare, but it came off as a sullen glare. She was still pink around the ears from her coughing fit, but Kelly's questions about North's relation to her weren't helping the situation.

"Before we figured out he was a..." A what, a spy? An enemy? Haruna hated those words for a person like North. They sat better with the man sipping whisky in front of her. "An Ignese, he was my friend. He saved me, once." Technically, on a one-for-one basis, Haruna owed North nothing: she'd saved him by pleading for his life when his brothers had been strung up. Haruna, however, had been raised by Temple-teachers, and her mothers especially had taught that the greatest badge of honour was compassion. One who went out of his way to promote peace and community deserved help whenever it was needed. Haruna was pretty sure that at the time her mothers instilled this lesson, they had meant donations to Temple life, teaching skills to the needy, or raising orphans (or stray animals, for that matter), and was not aimed at a spy helping Terrans avoid being killed by planned raiding parties for questionable reasons, but Haruna firmly believed that North fit the bill. Her expression turned fierce, and she regarded Kelly with less a sullen look than one of a self-righteous believer. One could argue that the balance of the elements demanded cooperation; who was Haruna to say that she wasn't filling out that role by helping the missing soldier? "He sent me a letter asking for my company, and," she had to think for a moment to come up with a de-fanged retort for Kelly, lest she imply Terran hatred in the middle of an Ignese pub in the centre of the capitol, "I had no prior obligation."

She wet her dry lips with another sip of whisky, making very certain to show no outward reaction this time. If he could sip away and look tough, she could, too. Shale-surfing with style. "Ignis is a difficult place to navigate; I was told to come here to find him, as either he didn't think to leave an address, or it was on a separate page that was lost in transit."

Kelly had become very good at reading the body language of others—crossed arms, flushed skin, sometimes even able to see someone’s pulse within their neck—through many interrogation sessions with criminals. Some people were good at lying and covering their tells up, while others thought they were good but their pride and arrogance ended up giving them away. Sometimes Kelly would say or do something to provoke a specific response from a person’s body to somehow give them away.

And yet, when Kelly witnessed Ryan North’s debriefing/interrogation after the prisoner exchange, he noticed that North had paused a few times, as if rewriting the events of what truly happened on his mission. Kelly also, on a few separate occasions, realized that North was seemingly upset or irritated—which is to be expected from a prisoner of war—but the irritation was almost being directed at the Ignese officers rather than the Terrans who captured him. Something was definitely off about North, but Kelly didn’t say a word as the man was cleared for duty. Instead, he placed tabs on North to see what he would do.

In reading Haruna’s expressions and body language, Kelly could assume that she was not some spy from Terra—if she had been, perhaps her responses to Kelly would have been more muted or nonexistent. Had she been a spy, Haruna and North could still be funneling information between each other for whatever reason; that’s the sort of thing that Kelly makes his business. Hence the meet-n-greet without North being present. However, it didn’t seem like Haruna was part of any intelligence operation that Kelly could see…but perhaps further interrogations would be necessary. It would be rather easy to bring Haruna in for something, especially if the charges were conspiring with an officer of the Ignis military to do the country harm.

But Kelly was going to ride this conversation out for a bit to see where it goes, and as he listened to Haruna speak, he made it a point to watch her with an unnerving gaze—to see if she was lying or hiding anything. Immediately, Kelly heard the pause and realized that Haruna didn’t want to call North something negative like a spy or a turncoat. And when she spoke of North being her friend and having saved her once, Kelly believed her; she seemed genuine enough and North seemed to be showing signs of a sympathizer anyway. Made sense.

A small stifle of a laugh at her retort with a quick sip of his whiskey, Kelly decided to be honest as well. At this point, he was probably going to arrest Haruna anyway so it wasn’t as if she was going to run off from his potentially offensive remarks.

”Lost in transit…yes, something like that.” Kelly looked down into his whiskey before turning to Haruna and pointing a curved finger at her. His tone almost sounded as if he were a tour guide giving out little factoids. ”Did you know that when you become a member of the military here in Ignis, you give up certain rights? Superiors giving you orders and having to obey while citizens obey who they choose to obey. And the lack of privacy is simply ridiculous…” And Kelly’s tone changed to sound more mischievous, as did his facial expression. ”…I mean, having someone read your letters before they are shipped out can be embarrassing. For instance…a letter from a possible sympathizer to a Terran that he knew during the war.” Kelly looked away from Haruna to lift his glass to lips, but before he took a sip, he spoke a few words. ”Doesn’t look very promising, you know?”

It wasn't that the letter Haruna had received had been strewn with hints at romantic rendezvous or pleas for marriage -- not only was North several years Haruna's senior, she was simply not that kind of person to him. No amount of youthful expectation could have changed that even if Haruna was capable of pining without the vast amounts of anxiety that welled up at the mere thought of considering initiating any kind of relationship. She had firmly couched her own with Ryan as one of family -- he was an older brother in as far as she was concerned, so if Kelly was implying that Haruna had anything to hide, she didn't react with the kind of horror and embarrassment that he might be looking for.

Instead, the girl scowled fiercely. It seemed as though a hush had settled over the pub now, though it could also be that in her ongoing state of agitation, Haruna's ability to dampen and give weight to air sometimes wore around the edges. The sparse, grey ropes that she wore looped like a sash over one shoulder gave away her belief system as well as her system of control, so it was not unimaginable that others might assume she was having some mild affect on the room. Certainly the pause Haruna left while trying to think of a comeback felt weighty, at least to her. Finally, she broke her gaze again. His eyes were too unnerving, and his mischievous intonation left her felt like a noose was closing around her from out of nowhere.

If she cut and ran now, she had nowhere to go. 'Damn you,' she was thinking -- of Kelly, of Ryan, of the entire island chain of Ignis. If she were as strong as Kei or as compassionate as Tobi, she would find some way out of this. If she had absorbed her Temple training, she might be able to outwit this inquisitor -- which she was beginning to think Kelly must be -- at least long enough to figure out where to go next.

Haruna looked up again at Kelly, slipping her hand under her opened jacket and into an interior pocket. She moved slowly, with control, her mouth set and her gaze unyielding as she retrieved a much-wrinkled and battered little scroll. The seal had long since cracked off and worn away, but the bit of twine that kept it all together was still in place. The Terran unrolled the little sheaf of papers, revealing not only the note that Kelly was making reference to, but a pair of papers that she had spent most of her money obtaining just to travel between Terra and Ignis, no matter that it was half a day's trip from the mainland to the nearest island of the cluster. At the very least, her methods of travel appeared to be on legal grounds. It seemed that very little that Haruna did was overtly under the table. "The war is over," she informed Kelly, obstinate in her resolve and utterly, completely oblivious to the troubles that were only just beginning to brew within Ignis. "I owe this man a debt of gratitude -- he was an honourable man and he strove to seek balance even when he faced the prospect of death. If he's in trouble now, and I have the right to visit him. I have the papers," she added.

She didn't know that Ryan might be in trouble because he was getting involved with rebels, couldn't guess that a Terran with all of her tragic experiences in the war might be just what was needed to bolster rebel resolve. She expected that perhaps North had been turned out by his family because he'd been caught; being a prisoner of war could be considered a shameful thing. Perhaps he had gone into financial debt -- the young Terran didn't know how she might be able to help in that eventuality, but even so she had half an inkling that if nothing else, perhaps North had been attempting to bring her some stability by offering her a connection in some round-about way. He'd definitely heard about Haruna's systematic isolation from her own family. The last was, of course, a trifling and well-guarded hope, but it left the girl's position weakened and the glimmer in her eyes took on a bit of a desperate cast. This entire conversation had only been flirtation with asserting herself against a much more experienced veteran of violence. Haruna was out of her league.

Kelly casually eyed Haruna as she reached into her jacket—not that he thought the girl was going to draw out a weapon of some sort, but it never hurts to be alert. Still with his face in his glass, he sipped a little air in with the whiskey, allowing the dark liquid to roll around in his mouth, getting a feel for the alcohol. It wasn’t too great as Kelly has had much better, but it wasn’t bad. As he swished the contents around in his mouth and swallowed, he waited for Haruna to produce whatever it was that she was going for while thinking of a bunch of possibilities as to the direction of this conversation. And with a small smile, it seemed that Haruna had drawn one of the shorter straws to this ending.

Placing his half-empty glass onto the bar, Kelly slowly turned to face Haruna after her producing of documents and declaration of intent. When she spoke, he did not look at her but once he thought she was finished, he turned to look at her with a small smile. Perhaps if not for the second glass of whiskey, Kelly’s facial expression might have seemed more controlled or unreadable—irritation would have been brewing underneath that this girl would demand any sort of rights, regardless of the paperwork. The fact that she mentioned the war being over simply fueled the fire, but Kelly was a gambling man and wore a poker face like few others could. Besides, he found Haruna’s statement about North seeking balance to be very telling. Very telling indeed.

With his unnerving gaze, he looked Haruna over for a moment. The hand that wasn’t holding his whiskey glass meandered over to the papers she had placed on the bar, lifting them up and eyeing them with an informal analysis. Kelly shifted his gaze from Haruna to the papers a few times, similar to someone at an airport matching an ID to a person’s face. Kelly then placed the papers down, turning his gaze back to Haruna, then back to his drink. As if contemplating his next move—which he had already constructed—Kelly placed both hands around his whiskey glass and looked down into the dark liquid, hunching over slightly. He then sat upright, inhaled and exhaled deeply, and turned back to Haruna. His expression was that of a man who had been proven wrong and had accepted it.

”You know what? You are absolutely right. I apologize for my rude behavior with the inquisition—sometimes you can’t be too careful with those from foreign lands, especially ones that are not on the best of terms. And in regard to my rude behavior, I am Kelly Gray…it is a pleasure to meet you.” He would hold out his hand to the Terran female, and for all accounts and purposes, Kelly’s intentions would look genuine. Of course he was full of shit, but only some would guess than much less see it clear enough. ”I actually know Ryan personally—we worked in similar units during the war. I can take you to him if you’ll let me. I believe he is scheduled for a shift change soon. Please.”

Kelly would stand from his seat and hold his arm out toward the door, an invitation for her to exit the establishment with him so that they could…uhh…visit Ryan North. In actuality, Kelly has something a little more special planned for Haruna. Something more private. Although Kelly operates in a country that is progressive, there are obvious loopholes—especially in this scenario—that he can abuse to interrogate Haruna as he sees fit. Perhaps she knows little of what Kelly is curious to know, but that doesn’t mean he can’t take a swing at her.

Under most circumstances, Haruna would probably have recognized the danger lurking under the surprise twist of Kelly's words. Certainly, if she'd known anything about the Gray family, let alone of Kelly's reputation, she'd have scented a web of lies being tightened around her. Under these particular circumstances, Haruna was too hopeful, and the buzz of alcohol -- even a little of it -- through her bird-thin frame left her a little less wary than she might otherwise be. Hell, that'd been why she came in here to begin with: to unwind enough just to confront the library of records within the centre of the Ignis military complex.

She tried to suss things out, regardless. Kelly had been playing with her earlier and she recognized that, however, his abrupt change in tone spoke to her of someone finally coming clean. That was one triumph for honesty, Haruna thought. One good deed repaid another.

She visibly brightened, shoulders straightening as she turned towards the man beside her just a little. In a moment she looked more open than she had before, or at least, less sullen. Anyone else in the room could see that the officer was playing his mark like an instrument, but Haruna merely replied, "you really do?" The question was testing in words alone: her tone was too hopeful to say anything other than that she already believed Kelly.

"I... well... a moment." she folded her papers back into her breast pocket, thinking long and hard about the imminent meeting that she'd so desired. It'd been months since she'd last seen the man. If he was still working over here, if Kelly knew him, if he was okay... Haruna took the last of her whisky and downed it in a go, managing to stifle a cough as the searing heat of the stuff marked a hole right down to the bottom of her stomach. She was relieved, but she was also terrified all over again, for different reasons.

The girl stepped down from her seat, looking up at Kelly for a moment before dropping her head respectfully. "Allow me to retrieve my horse," she told him, thinking about a million steps ahead -- but down a completely fictional path that, unbeknownst to her, would very soon vanish in front of her.

Externally, Kelly’s facial expression did not change in the slightest—he still seemed to be a man that felt regretful for his behavior in the early part of the conversation and determined to right that wrong. And yet, as he watched Haruna’s expressions and words fill with hope, internally he was grinning wide and nearly purring with delight. It was almost too easy, which would sometimes make Kelly wary of others in some situations, but Haruna’s actions were so honest and natural that the Gray Wolf would have a hard time seeing anything else.

To seal his feigned goodwill further, Kelly reached into a pocket to produce a few pieces of bronze, scattering them in a small pattern across the bar. The bartender seemed a little shocked but said nothing, avoiding Kelly’s eyes for the majority of the transaction. If Haruna objected, Kelly would hold up a hand to stop her and explain that it was the least he could do for his rude behavior in their conversation.

”Good, good. Retrieve your horse and I will have mine sent over. Ryan’s station is not far from here, but riding there will make the journey that much easier. I will meet you out front if that is alright.” Kelly would be pleasant to Haruna and even give her a little smile as she left to get her horse while signaling for one of the military officers sitting at a nearby table. As the man approached Kelly, the Gray Wolf smiled and faced the younger officer, dusting the shoulders of his uniform off idly. The smile that he worn for Haruna morphed into something a bit more twisted—wicked even.

”See that my horse is sent here immediately and prepare an interrogation room at the barracks. I do not want to be disturbed while I question our…guest. Understood?” As he asked for the soldier’s understanding, he slapped both hands against the sides of his upper arms, gripping him in a pseudo-friendly embrace before releasing the man. A quick salute and the soldier was out the door as fast as his feet could carry him. In the meantime, Kelly adjusted his uniform and cracked his neck with a few twists before slowly making his way to the exit. Kelly wasn’t even entirely sure where Ryan’s current whereabouts were, and that didn’t concern him at this point. What he wanted was a more private setting so that he could ask Haruna more pointed questions without anyone eavesdropping.

In the mean time, Haruna had left the pub with conviction in her step, her dust-crusted boots clipping against the floor-boards all the way out the door as if, suddenly, the world was in order again. Even the heatwave that assailed her as she opened the door was not enough to wilt her spirits -- she'd been months on this particular quest. She was so close to her goal, she could practically taste it. She rounded the corner of the pub, neglecting the stables -- too expensive -- for the meager bar at which she'd tied her gelding up. The packs were still in order, thankfully. No wonder, being directly across from the Ignis military headquarters in the heat of the day meant that would-be thieves might have a troublesome time... and those who tried would have to deal with a horse who knew better to have his packs taken by a stranger. "Meito," she greeted the gelding, smiling for the first time in ages as the beast whuffled back. The creature raised his head, swishing his tail as the girl freed his reins from the bar. "Hey, fella," she soothed, "soon we'll be out of here and somewhere I can brush you down as long as you like. Just a little further, and we're off the shale."

She attempted to rest her wide forehead against the horse's own, but perhaps the nervous energy she was exuding was having an inadvertent effect -- Meito tried to pull back and toss his head, nickering uncertainly.

"Hey, hey -- settle down," she urged. She moved with her mount as he began to back away from the pub, noting as she turned about that the command officer had left the building while she was tending to her horse, and was now standing on the steps. "You never did tell me your name," Haruna called, walking her mount over.

As Kelly stepped outside, the intensity of the weather was a bit more dramatic now that the rays of the sun were present. Shielding his eyes with his hand, Kelly’s steel baby blues winced at the brightness, being more sensitive to the light than others with darker eye colors. Thankfully the Ignis military had evolved over the years, employing lighter fabrics for the uniforms. Had Kelly worn a traditional, heavier military uniform that some cultures have developed, he might very well be placing himself into the inevitability of a heat stroke. Even on a day like this, Kelly had decided not to wear his coat—despite his rank being displayed on his coat, it wasn’t as if people wouldn’t recognize who he was.

As he waited for his horse, Kelly turned his head to see Haruna walking over with her mount. Still shielding his eyes with a hand on his forehead, his light blue orbs were beginning to adjust to mass amount of light accordingly but not yet ready to take the full brunt of the sun. Kelly noted that Haruna had produced her horse rather quickly, although perhaps it wasn’t at the stables—they did charge those who were not military. Smiling a bit of a confusing smile, he retraced the memory of him telling Haruna his name.

”Didn’t I? Kelly Gray…although I don’t recall ever getting your name, miss…?”

As Kelly waited for a response from Haruna, a soldier appeared, riding over on a white horse draped in the colors of the Ignis military. Quickly dismounting, the soldier handed the reins to Kelly and gave him a look and a quick nod, exchanging something other than the horse. Kelly nodded back and patted the horse, placing a foot into the stirrup and lifting himself onto the back of the beautiful beast. The horse was extremely well trained and also Kelly did not choose the color, lighter colored horses fared better in the heat of the sun than say a black horse. This thought triggered Kelly’s lighter conversational side as few would casually converse with him—strictly because people know who he is. Haruna does not yet, which gives the Gray Wolf a chance to wear sheep’s clothing.

”I imagine the weather in Ignis is a bit more intense than in Terra, although I guess it depends on what part of Terra you’re coming from. Where exactly are you from?”

Not that Kelly wanted to initiate in small talk, but paying attention to what Haruna would say might make Ryan’s debriefing look like a lie—or at least parts of it. Perhaps Ryan said he was one place while Haruna said she was at another location? Who knows. Once Haruna was saddled up, Kelly would start his horse in the general direction of the barracks, a pace that would be considered walking for an animal such as a horse but cover more distance quicker than if they were to walk themselves.

Haruna had got the impression that Kelly had known her name all along. He seemed to have known enough about North -- not to mention Haruna's doings within Ignis -- that simple introductions were below him. Never the less, one admission of a name deserved another. "Haruna Jun Lei," she replied with a formal air, though, lightening a little, she added, "though I believe that in Ignis it is conventional to reverse one's surname?" Not that it mattered much: Kelly, Gray, Ryan, North, they all sounded as permissible a proper noun as did any of the Ignese language. Haruna's own surname was a thing of niceties in any case; it had been given to her by her mother, Kei, who was responsible for naming all of the infant orphans that came into her and Tobi's care. Not that Haruna would ever admit it, but her surname was a formalized glyph of Summer Squash: Kei had always teased her children that they had sprouted from her expansive garden.

When Kelly's horse arrived, the stark contrast between the splendour of the commander's lot in life with Haruna's bleak, clinging sort of hope could not be made more clear. This new creature was well-groomed, almost blinding to look at now that the sun had managed to pierce through the low, hot clouds that occurred between interplay of Searik's volcanic gasses and the water vapour that kept the streets safe from the more dangerous aspect of the caldera. Its dressings were things of craftsmanship, in the colours of Ignis, with metal enough for ornament. Meito was a hardy beast, but he was in need of some care -- his brown coat looked scruffy in places, and the leather of the bare packs, saddle and bridle looked the epitome of base practicality. The blankets keeping Meito's back safely padded were a mishmash of well-worn rags. He looked like an equine street urchin, in short... but Haruna didn't look much better. The look she had cast at Kelly's horse had gone the spectrum from greedy want to resentful disparagement -- she didn't need that kind of pomp and circumstance. She'd been getting by on the grit of her own damned merit for most of her adult life; she didn't need anything better.

Perhaps her willingness to ignore the unnerving feral sort of look of the Gray Wolf's pale eyes put a lie to her own inner reassurances. Haruna had climbed into Meito's saddle with practised ease, casting a glance the horse's way as he eyed this new interloper as though he was deciding whether or not to like the other beast. Returning her attention back to Kelly when the man asked her a question, Haruna snorted. "You haven't been to Terra, have you?" At least, not to the parts that they hadn't destroyed utterly. Haikar was one of the few cities that struck the balance between earth and ocean. Darkurr was a dusty labyrinth of canyons, steppes and frozen peaks, fit for ranches and goat-herding if it weren't for the fact that open herds tended to get slaughtered by soldiers who were lost and hungry... or blood-hazed. The rain-shadow cast by the peaks that bordered the province meant that the weather always felt extreme, even if open volcanic peaks weren't present.

Besides, Haruna was clearly dressed in garb most frequently seen on northern Terrans. Her sash of grey ropes and the badge at one shoulder might clearly have identified her as a Haikair Elementalist Temple Citizen with a bent towards wind control, but the rest of her outfit looked wrong and the ropes looked old and somewhat frayed over one shoulder. A girl like Haruna might carry the things she valued most close to her person -- and that was true. In fact, she was proud enough to wear them openly on her chest in the middle of only recently hostile territory. Never the less, she humoured the officer. "I moved around a lot, growing up." That said nothing of the terrorized children sent packing out of a city in the process of being ransacked, and of the endless days and weeks of travel through dry and inhospitable territory. Haruna's lips twisted in a slight grimace as she continued, "I never really settled down."

(I sent you a msg about the first name thing…so if it’s wrong in this post, I can change it ^_^ And sorry for the length and possible grammatical errors <_<)

Kelly did in fact know Jun’s name, but for all intents and purposes at this juncture, he was attempting to be more gentlemanly than he was at the bar. Perhaps his pleasantries were a lost cause at this point, but Kelly played the role well enough to be believable. Truly, if the Gray Wolf had been brought up in a different family and found a different profession, he might have been quite the upstanding citizen—respectful, law-bending when it was for the good of others, kind—that sort of person. But fate had dealt him a different hand.

Kelly listened to Jun speak her name, riding alongside the girl while leading the beasts toward the barracks. He had forgotten the placement of surnames of Terra, tagging Jun as Haruna in his own mind. Had Kelly been more honest with his facial emotions, he might have looked surprised when Jun mentioned the flip. Perhaps because they were on the same wavelength, Kelly smiled lightly and reiterated what Jun was thinking.

”Not that it matters with some names. Kelly, Gray…either name sounds like it could be my first and I’ve been called by both. Although Terrans tend to have surnames that are longer than their first names?” Kelly found this to be the case with some of the Terrans he had interrogated, but he phrased the statement as a question so as not to make assumptions about the general population.

Leading his horse down a path with an increase of military activity, Kelly noticed the difference between the beast he rode and the one Jun did, but he was not proud or infatuated with his mount—it was a beautiful animal to be sure, but beauty is not always guaranteed as the best or strongest steed. Such is Kelly’s view towards life—just because one man wears a crown does not make him the strongest person in the crowd. Someone like Jun could easily be stronger than Kelly, both in mind and body, but could be restraining herself for the hope of meeting up with Ryan in the immediate future. True, she was not versed in hiding her emotions, but that didn’t mean she was weak by any means. Despite Kelly’s rank and status, he hardly looked down on others—he has seen many a man die because of underestimating their foe.

”I’ve never been to Terra, no. Even during the war, my position as an intelligence officer was to defend Ignis, not attack Terra.” Being a higher ranking official in the war, he was not granted as much field work as other intelligence officers—he was considered too valuable, despite a handful of higher ups being extremely carefree about the thought of Kelly dying in the war. Ryan North, however, was one of those officers who were supposed to infiltrate the enemy and earn their trust. But Kelly was ignorant to the ways of Terrans, even having a working knowledge of Terranese—strictly for interrogations where the captured or wounded would not speak Caristian. As he spoke to Jun, he spoke in her native tongue, although it was not grammatically accurate. ”Never been to Terra. But know things.” The break in grammar almost made Kelly’s sentence sound threatening and in a way, he had meant it as such. In interrogating Terrans during the way, Kelly allowed his prisoners to speak in their native language and acted as though he knew nothing of what they were saying…until he thanked them in Terranese for the information they provided.

Jun’s answers to Kelly’s questions seemed vague, but perhaps she spoke the truth due to her upbringing during wartimes. Kelly was allowed to be a child once, and around the time that Terra and Ignis went to war, he was supposed to grow up anyway. For Jun, she could have been displaced most of her life, leading her to grow up faster than other children in other countries. In this instance, Kelly felt sorry for her—he wasn’t above feeling sorry for children who were not allowed to be children. Kids aren’t supposed to witness the horrible acts that adults perform—not even grown men are right in the head after such things.

And yet, Kelly needed to know the truth about Ryan North. He knew, but he didn’t know 100%, and he was hoping that Jun would be able to provide that for him. His female companion might have noticed an even larger increase in the Ignis military presence as they passed through the entrance to the military barracks, which might have an unnerving effect. Still, Jun seemed the type who was focused enough to ignore most things when a goal was present. It was an honorable skill to have. ”We’re here.”

Kelly stopped and dismounted, his horse immediately being taken by a soldier. Another soldier waited for Jun to dismount before leading her horse in the same direction as Kelly’s. He would wait for Jun to be ready and then move into one of the first doors the barracks had to offer, passing by a number of guards who saluted him as he did so. The very same guards would watch Jun with suspicious eyes but never break formation or act unlike they should in the presence of the Gray Wolf. None were stupid enough to even whisper an insult or make a gesture.

Opening a large wooden door, Kelly held out his hand into the room, allowing Jun to enter first. ”After you.” As she entered, the room have several small windows that were higher up on the walls, allowing natural light to give the room a warm glow. Furnishings were few, but the room looked as though it was used as a study or a holding room. The ceiling was vaulted and the walls were bare, but it wasn’t an awful looking room—just a simple one. Some food and drink were left on the table—some bread, ripened fruit, and a wine flask—by officers who had vacated earlier in the day. As Kelly closed the door behind the two, he turned and gave her that same wolfish smile he had produced earlier in the bar.

”I took the liberty of setting this room up before we arrived. Do you like it?” Kelly meandered about the room, uncaring as to whether Jun enjoyed it or not—he was merely being himself again. ”It’s very simplistic in design—not enough to be distracting, but enough to feel less like a prison cell. The tapestries in this place are horrible though…” Kelly walked up to the insignia that was hanging on the door, picking up the material with his one hand and giving it a sniff, recoiling slightly from the smell.

Turning to Jun and clapping his hands together, he continued to grin. ”Shall we continue our conversation? You can sit if you’d like. I’d rather sit. Standing can be…” Kelly walked past Jun to the table where he sat down and exhaled sharply from the impact of his butt and the seat. ”…exhausting.” Kicking his feet up onto the table, Kelly placed his hands behind his head and slouched in the seat. ”Let’s take it from the part where you said you owe Ryan North a debt of gratitude and how he sought to seek balance. I’d like to know what really happened when Ryan attempted to infiltrate the Terrans. Honesty will be rewarded with Ryan remaining free and you being able to visit with him. Deceit will be result in a widly imaginative punishment that I will decide at a later date. Go.”

Perhaps Jun would be put off by Kelly’s dishonesty of leading her to Ryan and not tell him jack shit. This would be unfortunate as Kelly is only concerned with the truth—knowing that Ryan is a traitor would not change Ryan’s status. In fact, Kelly would trust Ryan more, which makes little sense to those outside of Kelly’s mind; he would trust the man to act a certain way knowing his true nature. People can tell you their actions all day long, but when they actually act upon them is when you can start trusting them.

While they were riding along Searik's streets, Haruna made enough banter with the officer to seem like a concerned, average citizen. Of course Terran names could be odd -- Northern Terra was different from Southern Terra was different altogether from those who had lived on the land-bridge... not to mention historical Terra. Haruna's upbringing had given her insight into the larger realm of the Earth Kingdom than had ever existed in her own life time. Not that Kelly needed to know it all, but merely an amount that might seem polite in conversation.

The increased military presence was not lost on the girl. She was aware that they were travelling to military barracks, but alongside her anxiety, the youth couldn't help but cast glances under those uniform visors and caps. Was that a familiar face? She was having trouble identifying the different male officers -- dark hair, light hair, most of it was hidden under sharp head-wear, which left her little to go on... but Haruna would know North's face anywhere. The rest of these young, solemn-looking soldiers blended all together as the two on horse-back drew nearer to their destination.

The fact that Kelly had spoken a bit of Terran made Haruna do a double-take. She'd attempted to reply in Ignese -- her own skills were not quite so rusty as the older man's, given that she had needed to know the language. She'd learned scraps all throughout the war, and North had helped, towards the end. Her conversation faded to silence a few minutes before the two arrived at the barracks proper. Haruna's belly had really begun to turn itself in knots.

She gave Kelly reason to pause as she dismounted, stroking Meito's snout appreciatively, in part to calm her own nerves. It appeared that her mount had made his peace with the officer's; when he was led away by one of the stable-hands, he merely swished his tail appreciatively in Haruna's direction. If she could feel as content with her lot in life right now as her hardy gelding did, Haruna would feel a lot better. As it was, following Kelly down the halls immediately began to leech away at her sense of hope and well-being. She'd had to deal with vile looks ever since she'd gotten off the boat out to the islands, but this was something wholly different. These soldiers looked as though they would look the other direction if someone happened to shave a foot or two off of Haruna's full height; moreover the looks she was getting seemed to mean something in particular, accompanying Kelly as she was.

"Where are we, anyway?" she finally asked, trying to allay the fearful charge of the hairs rising up on her neck. She wanted very much to turn around and walk right back down the hall, but with every guard they passed, that hope diminished.

The room they entered was the clincher. Nowhere to be seen was Ryan North. The room itself was lavish, by post-war Terran standards, but the high-up windows, the musty smell of the room, the abject sense of imprisonment that Haruna felt stepping across the boundary... it all came together in one painful stab of fear. She whirled about to face Kelly, but the door was already shut. She had the dreadful feeling that trying the handle would accomplish nothing... and besides, she would then have to think of a way out of this trap.

She backed away several steps, watching Kelly with intense, dark eyes as he paced around the room. It had all been a facade, she realized, and she'd fallen for it without the merest inkling of doubt. She'd thought that, somehow after all of this time, she could learn to trust an Ignese person again... yet this is what it got her.

When Kelly sat at the desk opposite of the young woman, Haruna clenched her hands at her sides. She wished for her eating knife, which had not been permitted on her belt upon entering the city limits. She wished for her staff, which was still dismantled in Meito's pack -- which was most likely being rooted through as Kelly prattled on. Most of all, Haruna wished for the sharp strength of her mother, Kei, or the solemn, clever endurance of her mother, Tobi. "You are as dishonourable as a foot soldier," Haruna replied, finally filling the void of silence after Kelly's snide command. Her ears burned with her frustration, her sense of entrapment -- she would throw a punch if she weren't so terrified that she felt rooted to the spot. Haruna turned her head to one side, spitting on the already soiled-looking rug. "You make promises and then you lie? I'm never believing you again, smoke-sucker." It was true enough! She'd been promised North's presence, and now she was trapped in an interrogation room. It dawned on her that North might be dead already, in which case she was just as likely to be close enough to the same as to make no difference.

But then, why would Kelly want information from her? Haruna needed time to think, and she was certain that that was quickly running out.

When Kelly was a younger lad, he was a far cry from a manipulator. He had seen his uncles, aunts and cousins perform it like it was second nature—and for the Gray family, it was—but Kelly never seemed to wield it with such grace. Only over a period of time did his natural talents in entrapment take hold, and some wished him dead for it. Initially, manipulating someone didn’t feel right…like eating some questionable food and not feeling pain, but knowing something inside was not sitting the way it should. Eventually, however, Kelly came to enjoy manipulating others, especially if it meant that he was able to have his way. Sometimes that was the lesser of two evils.

What really caused Kelly’s grin to spread wide was Haruna’s reaction to the situation. Sometimes people would give a poker face just to snatch the enjoyment from the other party, making them believe there was no offense taken whatsoever. But the Gray Wolf was hoping he would glean such a reaction from Haruna as he could tell she was not one to diminish her true feelings in the presence of others. No, she was too green and honest for that. Even in her insults! As Kelly feigned pain in his chest by placing his hands over his heart, he tilted his head back and made a wounded face.

”You injure me with your words!” Bringing his head forward and leveling his stare against Haruna again, he wondered if anything he said would even be absorbed at this point. There was a twinge of guilt for the way he manipulated Haruna, mostly because it was excessive and also because she was being so raw with her emotions—as if there wasn’t any fun in manipulating her anymore. Perhaps that is what forced Kelly to speak a bit more direct. He did favor honesty when he could afford, and seeing as how they were in very secluded quarters, it seemed as good a time as any.

”Dishonorable…and how does someone of your age truly understand what is honorable? What would you define as fair in this situation?” Kelly was an honorable man, but he hid himself under piles of metaphorical clothing that would suggest otherwise. Feeling as though he understood the world, he sense of honor and fairness might seem a bit skewed to those who are more ideological about the word. In practice, being fair and honest in an unfair and dishonest world was messy and cumbersome—unless you were the ruling party, ideological fairness and honor enacted very little change in Kelly’s opinion. Instead, Kelly purposely had people hate him so he could be in a position that no one wanted and no one would challenge—making it possible to be fair and honorable in a complicated world. The citizens of Ignis might not see it that way, but Kelly saw his actions too all clearly.

"I'm not here to debate with you, you wretched piece of shit," Haruna snarled, bristling like a cornered cat. The officer's obvious lack of respect, from the relaxed line of his bearing to the words he spat, dripping with wry sarcasm, was a dire insult after his oh so obliging earlier interactions.

Haruna had been had, but she wasn't going to go down without fighting. It went against what she'd been taught, but she'd seen too many people go missing, regardless of what happened when they were captured by Ignese forces. She had so little left to value, save her own dignity; laying it down to an interrogator like this ass-wit would strip her even of that. "You made a promise to me, then bring me to this sink-hole, insult me, and then expect me to talk? You must think my people are really pathetic." She was partially working herself up at this point, more to cover the anxiety of what being here meant she was in for, than out of any cunning gambit. "You may have made some of us desperate, but you fucking well insult me. I want proof that Ryan North lives!"

What did she have to gamble, here? She got the sickening impression that Kelly Grey was toying with her. And North...? Well, he'd reneged upon the Ignese for a few months before the end of the war, but nobody had trusted him, fully. Almost nobody. He'd been under watchful eyes, and sometimes under lock and key. He had been a prisoner regardless of what he felt about Terra, about Ignis. Haruna couldn't well verify anything but what she expected the soldier would have said already. She didn't have any truly useful information.

Did she?

She gulped, then clenched her jaws against any further minor physical signs of weakness.

It was unfortunate that Haruna was becoming so emotional and even declared her intent not to debate on the subject that Kelly had laid out before them. What did he expect? He did manipulate her into a false sense of security and then bring her to a heavily populated military area and led her into a room without an exit. Despite her insults and outbursts, Kelly almost enjoyed the way Haruna spoke to him—it was only natural as no one ever spoke to him in such a fashion. He assumed that if Haruna knew the reputation of the Gray Wolf, she might fear him enough to at least sound respectful.

But Kelly decided that Haruna was becoming too emotional to extract information out of her; he needed her more sane to understand the circumstances that he, Haruna and North found themselves in. His game with her had gone on long enough. With his next action, Haruna might misunderstand Kelly’s motivation, believing that he had performed it out of anger. In reality, he simply wanted to silence her quickly. With a quick motion of his hand to a hidden compartment near the top of his boot, Kelly drew out a dagger and while sitting up and leaning forward, slammed it into the wooden table with such ferocity that the sound of the wood giving way to the pointed weapon bounced against the walls for a second, amplifying the actual sound. Kelly glared at Haruna—he wore an expression that was hard to read, very well controlled. He left his hand on the handle for a short moment before retracting the weapon and taking a seat, having to tug up sharply to remove the point from the table. His tone was not irritated or sarcastic, but rather sounded like someone reading some parchment with boring legal information upon it. His eyes looked down as he slid the dagger back into its compartment.

”If you truly care at all for Ryan North, you’d understand why I brought you here. Very few have an inkling of what happened to Ryan when he was in Terra. To discuss a private matter in such a pubic place would be the end of Ryan’s life of being a trustworthy person, at best.” Kelly would let that sink in for Haruna, allowing the silence to permeate between the two. Despite the fact that he is informed of Ryan’s actions, he does not dislike the man—it is simply a precautionary reaction to information that Kelly has not been able to vet…until now. To know is better to suspect, which would help Kelly understand how Ryan might act if some sort of rebellion is to arise from the whole fiasco brewing about the Queen lying to start the war.

”I will be as forthcoming as I can with you…” Kelly’s posture in the chair became relaxed once more, slouching slightly and kicking his feet up onto the table. ”…and if you choose to believe me, you should only see one option on the table. I need to know exactly what happened with Ryan North when he attempted to infiltrate your—group, village, whatever you’d like to call it. I suspect more happened than Ryan has been telling me and I need to know so that I can gauge his actions in the near future. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Ignis is having a bit of an internal strife at the moment and I need to know where my loose ends are…not to tie them up necessarily, but to know how they will react.”

He watched Haruna for a moment, wondering if she believed what he was saying or not. It was going to be hard to trust Kelly, but what he was saying made perfect sense—it was a crime to arrest everyone that broke a law. Sometimes finding their actions to be criminal turns them into a criminal. Ryan was not criminal—he had found himself in a situation that caused his allegiances to shift, or so Kelly thought. Despite what little knowledge Kelly had, he could have easily stripped Ryan of any military rank and dishonorably discharged him from service—which would not have been very honorable at all. Instead, Kelly allowed Ryan to live as if no one knew the truth.

”If you tell me the truth, you will be free to go as you please and Ryan’s life will become less complicated unless he himself chooses otherwise. If you refuse to tell me anything, I may have to act against Ryan to ensure the safety and security of the people I am sworn to protect. Like I said before, I’m giving you options but you should only be seeing one if you are thinking clearly.”

So there was only one thing for it: Kelly Grey was a psychopath. Haruna twitched when the point of his blade slammed through the desk, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she vividly remembered the nights with her mother, helping the Health Consular do her best to mend wounds brought in from pointed weapons. Stabbings were some of the most difficult wounds to close, Tobi had once admitted, because the damage they did to internal organs often left a cascade of issues to deal with. Blood in the lungs, nicked arteries -- and that was at the best of times. That conversation had been the reason why Haruna had chosen, essentially, a slashing blade on a long stick to train with when she was younger, and it was why she was so effectively shut up just now.

She watched his entire demeanour change from skulking manipulator to cold-faced inquisitor, but she no longer had the impression that this honest front was anything other than just that: a front. Haruna was busy analyzing the intent behind Kelly's words, now, the recent rush of adrenaline lending her focus. How could this man glean that gloating edge again from Haruna's admissions? If she mentioned anything, Kelly could easily twist her words. Truthfully, this was the first that the girl had heard of any issues with Ignis. The nation had won the fifteen year long war, after all. It had not only gained more land than all of its islands put together from accords signed thereafter, it had also traumatized an entire nation by its firebombings that left Terra's main port city a molten wasteland and, to put the final nail in the coffin, it had left Haruna's country in a crippled, xenophobic, starving state that was bound to set its progress back at least as many years as the war had been going on. What did Ignis have to cry about?

If Ryan North had given any hints that there might be others who sympathized with the havoc that Ignis had wrought, Haruna had never cottoned on. Didn't one have to be in the country to really have any understanding? Ignis -- and especially Searik -- seemed to be a thriving destination. How could anyone here really know what it was like?

Yet the girl wasn't sure whether to reveal her previous ignorance. Certainly it would be the better move than to suggest she had some implicit understanding of whatever was happening... for her sake and for Ryan's. How would Kelly twist her words, though? She didn't have enough information. She decided to stick to the truth, then. She could just see the glint of that double entendre in Kelly's eyes when he spoke of making North's life less complicated, but what else was she to do?

"Fine," she began, willing herself into a less agitated stance. She suppressed a shiver; it wasn't fear, she told herself, it was just that the sweat she'd accumulated was cooling in this isolated room, and that was all. "You want your one option, then have it -- but I'm sure it's everything he already told you." She gave him a glare that was one part primly contemptuous and one part merely terrified. "It all started, um, two years ago. One year before the war ended." She had to count back over the seasons. Had it already been two years? It felt like a different lifetime. "North and a group of your people had worked there way into our cell at different times. I didn't really pay any attention at first; I was a runner and he and they were older. I guess they had their own stories," Haruna shrugged, the gesture agitated, given her situation. "Most of them were disenfranchised with their troops... but that wasn't uncommon. There were lots of people who did the same. Ignese, Terran -- they got sick of claiming the same canyon or bluff every few months from the enemy, or got left behind when they were injured, or just realized how stupid it all was..." She fought for some semblance of serenity, taking a moment to breathe sharply out. "One night we got wind that the four of them were infiltrators. They were passing information on to some Ignis soldier, preparing for an ambush."

Here, Haruna looked away from Kelly, all but blazing a small crater in the austere carpet below her dusty boots with her down-turned eyes. "The cell leaders executed your spies after the discovery to protect the rest of the village. Most of them were killed... I interceded on North's behalf." The girl glanced up, looked away again. Her jaw clenched tightly enough to be noticeable. "He knew a lot about Ignese movements, it seemed like. He made a really good prisoner. And... and a good bargaining chip, those last few weeks." Which lead, inevitably, to the memory of the long trek down to the coast, and the solemn farewell on the beach, and Haruna having to sever the last tie she held to anyone she might consider a friend. She wasn't going to cry in front of Kelly. She wasn't really the sort. She did, however, try to will her guts to stop tying themselves in knots. Having to speak about this at all was a trial. To actually be put on trial was torture. Haruna didn't want to think how far advanced that last might seem if her words didn't satisfy Kelly's penchant for information...

"He gave information to my leaders in exchange for his continued life," Haruna finished. "He hated the war, but he just wanted to go home."

Kelly’s fingers intertwined in his lap while he listened to Haruna, watching her as his thumbs idly picked at each other. His thumbs immediately stopped moving when Haruna talked about the execution of the three soldiers—a flicker of emotion that danced behind an emotionless facial expression—but began moving once again as she mentioned Ryan making a good prisoner and bargaining chip. As thoughts shifted around in his mind, Kelly’s eyes watched Haruna’s expressions, understanding her emotions without her saying a word. His eyes were less glaring and more neutral—a little sympathetic even.

Kelly allowed the silence to saturate the barren room for a moment, his eyes moving from Haruna and down to his hands. He slowly turned his hands, palms facing him, thinking about how he was going to respond to her. Coincidentally, this situation did feel like Haruna was on trial and seeing her run through emotions as she told her story, a small part of Kelly regretted setting up the meeting in such a fashion. Turning his palms downward into his lap, he signed and spoke before looking back up at her again. His tone was low and almost remorseful.

”No one liked the war. Not even myself, if you can believe that. They said that Ignis won, but they never said what we lost. On both sides.” Kelly didn’t have to question the validity of Haruna’s statement about Ryan—he could tell just by looking at her that she was speaking the truth. Coincidentally he too felt like Haruna gave testimony to a judge after having been on trial. Holding out an arm to the chair nearest Haruna, he offered her a seat.

”Please, sit. I can rub people the wrong way…my methods yield results but they don’t make any friends.” Kelly was actually being a bit nice? This was a change of pace. Not that Haruna would be very accepting of anything that Kelly did but he genuinely felt some sort of regret for the way he treated the Terran. He wasn’t as heartless as most make him out to be.

”To be honest, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern friend from foe these days. If you believe the rumors, the entire Terran Ignis war was started from nothing and these rumors have given way to a…rebellion of sorts. I needed to know if Ryan would ever turn on his own for such a cause hence why I needed your verification of what happened to him. You’ve made his life easier from your statement as I can give him responsibilities that would otherwise be reserved for someone I trusted a bit more.” Sure, Kelly trusted Ryan now…trusted that he would act a certain way. It was enough to make the Gray Wolf feel more comfortable about anticipating the man’s actions.

And then Kelly switched the conversation. He looked down at his hands when he spoke, flashing an honest expression of guilt.

”Children should never have to grow up in times of war. They should always be allowed to have a childhood…a family. I think we tend to forget that sometimes.” This was probably the closest thing that Haruna was going to get in terms of an apology for anything and everything that Kelly has done. Kids should always be able to be kids and despite Haruna looking like one tough cookie, who knows how she would have turned out had the war not interfered.

Haruna actually raised her arms, grabbed the back of the chair, and gave it a decisive shove onto its side. She had been glaring at her interrogator with disbelieving rage: how could he shift so quickly between his varying attitudes? It was as though he couldn't decide which personality was truly his; each of them seemed real while he was wearing them, but Haruna was infuriated by the rapacity with which he shifted between emotions. How could she dare trust that what Kelly was saying now wasn't merely a platitude... or worse, wasn't a condescension?

Still, there was information here that was brand new to the girl, and the realization that Ignis might truly be facing a rebellion left her cooler than she had been a moment ago. She looked from the man to the overturned chair and, hunching her shoulders ever so slightly in contrition, bowed from her neck to the man. "I'm sorry," she apologized, pulling the chair back upright. She chose not to sit, but at least she wasn't gripping the back rest with white knuckles this time. She tried her best to stand at ease. Kelly didn't make that easy, but given her circumstances, Haruna was beginning to understand that whatever might lay on the far side of the present, she had no control over it... not just now, anyways. The Masters that she had always looked up to the most in her childhood had ascribed patience to be the strongest virtue of the enlightened Terran: Water and Wind might wear away at the patient stone, Fire might melt it, Ice and Plant might crack it, but Earth always prevailed and these transformations gave it character. So too, Haruna realized, did these events threaten to change her. Struggling back... well, she could try, and a part of her very much wanted to, but the prevailing situation was giving her plenty of cause for cooperation.

She sighed and looked away from the man, refusing to be baited by his last admission. The way that Haruna saw it, Kelly was attempting to pander to her sense of loss, but she had been simmering in that hollow state for so long, and he had no idea what it was like, she guessed, that his statement was all but meaningless. Instead, she tried to focus on what was important. "North wouldn't have joined your army if he didn't love his country," she attempted to intervene on his behalf once again. "He's not the kind of person to fight just because he loved to. He wanted to go back home to read and write and be with his family." She distinctly remembered the man professing that if he never had to defend himself again, he'd die a happy person. It was only with bitterness that she realized how easily one might nest with the other.

Haruna said, "I doubt he'd be involved in your rebellion... he was always the moderate sort. He was considered and quiet and deliberate, and he didn't hate anyone in particular." Not like some people that Haruna could name, including herself. "You're not going to allow me to see him, are you?"

Kelly found that it was harder to allow his emotions and true intentions to escape since he had been controlling and constricting them for so long. What appeared like some sort of personality disorder to Haruna was simply the man’s lack of control when it came to being his true self in front of someone else. This is not to say that Kelly did not have his emotions tightly suppressed, but extreme suppression was easier than trickling those emotions out. Had Haruna been a more wicked person and seized the moment to make fun of Kelly’s sympathy, the Gray Wolf would have switched himself back entirely into interrogator mode, secretly irritated by being made fun of while bearing his true feelings.

Despite a slightly vulnerable state, Haruna’s display of frustration with the chair did not seem to faze Kelly very much. In fact, he was surprised that she hadn’t tried to attack him in some form or fashion—they were alone and the guards might not rush in at the sound of a struggle. And what almost made Kelly smile was the fact that she apologized for her actions, as if an apology was necessary after the way Kelly had treated the Terran female. He didn’t bother to address the outburst, but instead let a small smile tug at the one corner of his mouth when she spoke about North loving his country—and the fact that she said your army.

”I don’t doubt that North loves his country, but some men do strange things in the name of love…” Kelly let his words trail off as he leaned back in his chair, scratching the coarse stubble on the side of his chin. He sat forward and clasped his hands together, placing them on the table. ”But I agree with what you’ve said about him. I can’t see him being involved in a rebellion against his country.” Not that Kelly actually believed those words, but it seemed to be a good idea to bring closure to this subject. And from her last statement, Kelly furrowed his brow and gave a small smile.

”Why would I not allow you to see Ryan?” Kelly stood from the table, starting to walk towards the door slowly as he spoke to her. ”You’ve been more than cooperative and I can’t legally keep you here for any longer than I need to. You may have felt like a prisoner but I always intended on letting you go.” Kelly knocked on the door twice while looking at Haruna. Shuffling of feet behind the door could be heard, followed by the loud metallic clanking sound of the door behind unlocked. Swinging it open, the guard stood in the doorway and looked between Kelly and Haruna, finally settling on Kelly, awaiting his orders. The Gray Wolf pointed a thumb at the soldier while looking at Haruna.

”This here’s Officer Wright. He will take you to see Ryan North on the other side of the barracks. Officer Wright will escort you on this facility not as a prisoner, but as a welcomed guest. Is that understood?” As Kelly asked for confirmation of his orders, he turned from Haruna to Officer Wright. There was a flicker of disgust when his eyes looked over Haruna as he listened to his orders, but he quickly looked up and ahead, almost stammering as he accepted his duties. Kelly smiled and slapped the man on the shoulder—a bit informal and far too hard—turning back to Haruna. ”You are free to leave whenever you want. And don’t worry, this isn’t a trap…I already did that once.” And there’s the sarcastic agent, making sure he kept his reputation intact in front of the soldier that was standing in the threshold. Officer Wright stood outside the door, awaiting Haruna to exit, while Kelly extended a hand for her to leave the room.

”After you.”