Eva joins Themis' Dogs

[dark_puck]

Title: First Day
Fandom: The Dresden Files: White War
Characters: Eva van Marsen, Lt. Hans Schuster, O2. Ishbal, O1. Donavan Labikov, O1. Donahue Labikov, Warden Loren DelGreco, Shamus McConnehy, Captain Lot Abdulmanji
Rating: PG/K+
Word Count: 6905
Summary: Eva van Marsen's first day with Merlin's Fire Unit 26 -- Themis' Dogs.
Notes: Written with tigerkat24. Eva is hers. This can serve as an introduction to all of the Dogs, as well as worldbuilding.



Well, here she was. Out in the western wilds of what had been New York state, with all her belongings in a bag over her shoulder yet again, facing the headquarters of the Merlin's Fire, Squad 26. Unofficially known as Themis' Dogs. Commander Lot Abdulmanji. Also home to Lieutenant Hans Schuster, a pair of twins who made trouble, and at least one other young lady, whose name Eva didn't know. She sighed, and shifted her bag on her back, and knocked before she could get herself too worked up.

After a minute or so, the door opened, and a familiar face beamed at her. "Eva!" cried Lieutenant Schuster. "Wilkommen!" His blue eyes glinted in amusement.

Oh, good. Someone she recognized. "Danke schoen," she replied, smiling back at him and dipping into the briefest of curtseys. "I believe I'm transferring here as of today."

His grin widened. "You are indeed. Though the Captain tells me I have to speak English once you step inside."

"Really?" Eva asked, stepping forward. "I can't imagine why. It certainly can't be because you make fun of his German."

"I think it's because the twins and Ishbal don't speak it, really," Hans said thoughtfully as he changed languages. "Shamus might. I dunno, nobody ever knows about that guy."

Eva went right along with the language change. "Will I meet them later?" she asked, shifting her bag on her shoulders.

"Most likely. Captain felt you might wanna settle in first, and meet the rest a few at a time." He grinned at her. "Though you'll probably meet Ishbal first - you're rooming with her."

"She's… the other girl, right? The tracker?" At least, that's what Eva thought the other girl did, but it was possible her information was outdated or just plain wrong.

"Yep. Our new one, actually - Captain picked her up right before we got stationed out here."

Out here. What a polite way of putting it. At least there were no alligators. "Have you been here long?"

"Long enough." Hans grinned. "Already had a couple of runaways break into the storehouse."

Eva blinked, and thought involuntarily of Hadian. But he wasn't a runaway, he was… something else. "Oh. Goodness. I… didn't know this was a common area for that."

"It's not supposed to be, but sometimes you get kids in bad situations trying to survive." He sighed. "Captain gave 'em a scare, held 'em a few days, then let 'em go with some food."

"That's kind of him," Eva said, entirely unsurprised by it. "Um. I don't… excuse me, Lieutenant, but do you know exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing here? The summons was… unclear."

Hans stretched. "Well," he said, drawing the word out, "Captain decided we needed a translator. And you were highly recommended. And since we're so close to Canada and he's still the Golden Boy at Fire HQ…"

"So I'm to translate for you," she said, feeling (and probably sounding) wholly unconvinced.

"Yep!" The lieutenant sounded far too cheerful. "Aha, here's your room." He rapped his knuckles sharply against the door. "Ishbal!"

Another roommate. Eva tightened her hands around the strap of her bag and hoped at least for someone who would leave her alone sometimes.

The girl who answered the door was young, almost too young to be in the Merlin's Fire. Of course, Eva wasn't that much older than the girl looked. "Yes?"

"Ishbal, this is Miss Eva van Marsen, the new translator. Eva, this is Officer Ishbal." Strange, no surname had been offered.

Eva dipped another quick curtsey, bowing her head. "I am very pleased to meet you," she said, shyly.

Ishbal bowed in reply, some of her brown hair sweeping forward. "And I you." Ishbal wore a different shirt than most of the Fire - it had a v-neck collar.

Another civilian, maybe? No… Eva saw the scars, and understood all in a jump. There had been a girl like Ishbal back home, who never wore anything around her neck and was quiet, so quiet… "May I come in?" she asked.

"Of course." There was a faint accent to Ishbal's English, vaguely French. She moved to one side to give Eva access.

Eva came into the room, which was typical Fire; bare and utilitarian. Ishbal had only three books to distinguish her side from the unused one; did they pay her less, then, or was she Spartan by nature? Eva put her own bag on the bed, took out the picture of her family and set it carefully on the desk, then turned back to face Lieutenant Schuster and Ishbal. "Thank you for welcoming me," she said, as politely as she could.

"You're welcome," Ishbal replied.

"I'll give you a bit of time to settle in, Eva," Lieutenant Schuster said. "Captain'll probably want to see you in about an hour or so."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Eva said. "Will… um." No, better to ask Ishbal, she decided, rapidly. "Officer Ishbal, would you show me where his office is?"

"Sure, I'd be glad to," said Ishbal. She smiled shyly.

Eva smiled back. Maybe they would get along then, she thought hopefully, and turned quickly to unpack. She had very little, only a few dresses, some letters from home, and her books in various languages, and it was over in a few minutes.

The officer had returned to her bed and selected one of the three books. She glanced over at Eva, possibly to see if the older woman didn't mind her diving in.

Eva wanted rather badly to talk, but it was clear Ishbal would rather read right now, and they would be roommates anyway. "Is it all right if I go explore a little?" she asked, instead. "I mean, will I be in the way?"

Ishbal shook her head. "Just don't go into the room across from this one - that's Shamus' room."

"I won't," Eva promised. "Thank you very much."

The younger girl smiled and returned to her book.

Eva slipped out of the room and went exploring, looking mostly for the cafeteria and the library. Oddly enough, the cafeteria was in the same location as it had been in the last base she'd been stationed at. It wasn't empty; the few tables had been pushed against the wall and a pair of redheads were sparring with… whatever came to hand, it looked like.

Eva blinked, and stayed to watch. This was certainly more than had ever happened at her last base. One of them - she wasn't sure which, they were identical - reached back and grabbed a chair, which he swung at the other one, who caught it. "Please, 'Hue," he said, yanking the chair from his brother's grasp.

'Hue? Where had she… oh, right, the twins Lieutenant Schuster had mentioned. Donavan and Donahue Labikov. So that meant the one with the chair right now was Donavan, and the one who'd grabbed it first was Donahue. She squinted at them, looking for any tells she could use to tell them apart.

At the moment, there didn't seem to be any - no. Donavan's hair was slightly shorter than his brother's. Right. She filed it away, and wondered if she should interrupt them to introduce herself, or if that would just get one of them hurt. Better to wait until they noticed her.

The fight went on a few minutes more, and then Donavan barked something out in a Slavic-sounding language. Donahue stopped. "What?"

Eva froze in place. Had she distracted them?

"We have a guest." Donavan turned to Eva and bowed; when he straightened, she could see a long, thin scar running from his left shoulder down underneath his workout top. "Sorry if we scared you, miss."

"Not at all," she said, hesitantly. "I… I was just watching. You're very good."

Donahue grinned at her. It wasn't as brilliant or charming a smile as Hans', but it certainly didn't lack in mischief. "We've been sparring since we were wee li'l lads."

Eva was flooded suddenly with memories of Anton, and felt herself smiling involuntarily back at him. "So I gathered," she said. "I'm Eva van Marsen, by the way. I'm your new translator."

"Nice to meet you, miss," Donavan said, and elbowed his twin.

"Yeah, nice," agreed Donahue, elbowing back.

"You must be the twins," she said. "Lieutenant Schuster warned me about you."

Donahue rolled his eyes. "And forgot to warn you about himself, I'm sure."

Donavan somehow managed to step on Donahue's foot. "I'm sorry, my brother doesn't intend to be rude. It's a chronic disorder, Foot-In-Mouth Disease."

Eva giggled. "That's all right. And I don't need to be warned about Lieutenant Schuster, do I?"

Donahue opened his mouth, but Donavan elbowed him. "Hans likes you. I think you'll be fine."

She'd more or less deduced that for herself. Still… "Out of curiosity… what happens to people he doesn't like?"

Identical grins spread across their faces. "The last person Hans took a real dislike to wound up retiring altogether."

"That doesn't sound so bad…"

"Well, he did it to get away from Hans," Donavan clarified his twin's cryptic comment. "Hans is a prankster. If he doesn't like someone, he can make their life a living hell."

Aha. That made more sense. "I see," she said, and nodded. "I'll be careful not to annoy him, then. Or… well, anyone who might not play harmless pranks."

"You'll be fine, Miss van Marsen," Donahue said then, sobering a little bit. "Folk who annoy Hans tend to either hate Germans - not a problem with you, obviously - or don't use the brains they were born with."

"So, use my brains and don't be prejudiced," Eva said. "It sounds like… like Uncle Fredrich, really."

The twins looked faintly relieved. "Then you know the type?" Donavan asked.

"More or less," she said. "I mean, my uncle. And people who are… oh, not ignorant, but… deliberately stupid, I don't think anyone likes them."

Donahue nodded. "Then you'll be fine," he repeated, and grinned at her.

"I'm glad," she said, simply, and sat down in a chair. "Tell me about the others? In the unit, I mean. Obviously I've already met Lieutenant Schuster, and the Captain, and Officer Ishbal."

"Well, there's us," said Donahue.

"And then there's Shamus," Donavan finished, looking sombre.

Shamus. No one had mentioned a… she frowned, remembering. "Is that… Warden McConnehy?"

"Ex-Warden, really," Donahue said. "No longer fit for the grey cloak, but they didn't want to just drum him out, so he got passed over to us. Since we're essentially a policing unit rather than a military one…"

No longer fit for the cloak, but clearly not for dishonourable conduct… that meant probably trauma, and bad trauma. "Oh," she said, softly. "I'm sorry. Does he… are there things I shouldn't do?"

"Never sneak up on him," Donavan said, and his brother nodded agreement. "Ishbal ties a bell around her wrist so he knows she's near."

"Okay," Eva said, and nodded. Not that she walked quietly anyway, but she'd be sure not to even try. "And are there things he doesn't like to talk about? Triggers or anything?"

"Don't ask him what happened, and never ask him about nightmares," Donahue told her. "It's a miracle he even lets Ishbal near him after one of those, but he says she helps, so…" The redhead shrugged. "You might want to invest in a pair of ear plugs."

"Are they that bad?" Eva asked, rather taken aback. Her mother used to wake up the whole house when she had one of her attacks, but that was because she threw things around and screamed obscenities, not because of nightmares.

The twins nodded sombrely. "Shamus was the only Warden to make it out of Uganda," Donavan said. "After his debriefing, the Alliance had the place interdicted."

She'd been here for just a few months then, and hiding every night to wish she was home. But even then, she'd heard a little about Uganda, and why it had been interdicted. "I… see. I won't bring it up." Ever.

"Best possible thing, really," Donahue assured her. "But apart from the whole 'don't sneak up on him' and 'don't ever mention Uganda' things, you can treat Shamus like a normal person, pretty much. I think he prefers it, really."

"I'll try," Eva said, and added, a little recklessly, "It's just I'm not very good at normal people."

Donahue laughed. "Oh, I like you."

Which was not the usual reaction to that particular confession, but Eva smiled anyway. "I like you too," she told him. "Both of you."

Donavan grinned at her. "I think you'll fit in here. Oh - Shamus aside, how do you feel about Wardens?"

Eva shrugged. "I don't know. I've never met any. But they keep us safe." She hesitated, remembering Hadian and all he'd said, and added, "Don't they?"

"…depends on the Warden, really," Donavan said after a moment. "Loren does, but she was only promoted in January."

"Warden Tane likely does," Donahue added. "Or at least he kept Ishbal safe and let the captain know about her. Tane is Shamus' best friend, and drops by sometimes to see how he's doing."

"Are they the only ones who come by here?" Eva asked. "Or do we see others?"

"Haven't seen any others yet, but there's apparently Dangerous Rebels in the area," Donavan said, rolling his eyes.

Ah well. Dangerous Rebels. Eva had some experience with those. "Somehow I get the feeling I don't need to be very afraid of them."

"Some of them you probably do," Donavan explained. "Croft isn't really a rebel, though. I guess you might call him an activist."

"More of a passivist," Donahue muttered.

"Freeing slaves is active, 'Hue."

Well, that was confusing. "I have no idea who or what you're talking about," Eva announced.

"One Joshua Croft," Donavan said. "When we got in, we were informed that he was suspected to be in the area and that we were to consider him Highly Dangerous. I did a little research."

Donahue snorted. "Turns out the most dangerous thing Croft has done is keep free humans on his lands and provide shelter to runaway slaves."

Eva blinked. "So he's part of the rebellion, then?"

"Nope," Donavan said. "Never contacted them. Or at least he hadn't before Wardens got sent to arrest him. If he has now, well, I don't blame him."

Eva went silent for a moment, taking this in. Finally, she said, "I think… I think the world is more complicated than Uncle Fredrich ever bothered to mention. So we… what, ignore him?"

"Pretty much. Captain says he doesn't care about someone providing a little food and shelter to runaway slaves. He's got more important laws to worry about." Donahue shook his head. "Most of the black wizards are like that, though. At least in America."

Eva digested that some more. "Well," she said, at last, "the way I see it, someone who's not part of the Alliance isn't strictly our business. After all, we're a police unit, aren't we? Not the army. Police deal with internal problems, not external." She beamed at the twins. "So that makes it someone else's problem."

They grinned back at her. "You'll fit right in," Donahue told her.

She hadn't fit in anywhere since she left home, and now she was smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt. Yeah. This was a good place.

"Oi!" called a new voice. "Who's a girl gotta thrash around here to get some attention?"

The twins both brightened. "Loren!"

Eva hadn't heard anyone come in. She twisted around sharply in her seat, and saw a blonde girl in a grey cloak standing in the doorway. A Warden…? Loren, the twins had said. Donavan had mentioned her earlier as one of the nice ones. All right, then. She relaxed, and essayed a tiny wave.

Loren grinned, then threw something towards them; Donahue snatched it out of the air and burst out laughing. "Yub yub, Officer," the blonde said smugly.

Eva, veteran of a thousand ongoing prank wars between her brother and sister, wisely kept her mouth shut during that exchange. But she did peer at the thing until she realized it was a small stuffed hedgehog toy. Definitely something to ask Lieutenant Schuster later.

Donavan rolled his eyes and waved Loren over. "Got someone you should meet, Lore," he said cheerfully. "Loren, this is Miss Eva van Marsen. Miss van Marsen, this is Warden Loren DelGreco, our former tracker."

Loren smiled at Eva. "Hello."

"Hello," Eva said, rather shyly, and stopped dead. Loren DelGreco. Loren DelGreco. This was Hadian's ex-girlfriend?

Loren blinked. "'Hue, what lies have you been spreading?"

"I haven't said a damn thing!" Donahue protested.

Eva realized too late what sort of expression she must have been wearing. "I'm sorry!" she blurted, her face heating. "They didn't say anything except that you were nice. I… I heard stories. From other people."

Loren looked confused. "Other people?"

Apparently her kidnapping wasn't widespread knowledge yet. Eva was perfectly happy to have it stay that way. "Others," she said, vaguely. "In Virginia. We heard a lot of stories there."

The confusion remained, and then suddenly it cleared. "I see." She considered this for a moment, then turned to the twins. "Girl talk needs to happen!" she chirped.

Girl talk? Alarmed, Eva stood up. "I'm sure that's not necessary…" she began.

Loren smiled at her. "Don't worry," she said. "I won't bite."

"Hard," Donahue said.

Donavan kicked him.

Eva was not worried about being bitten. But the look in Loren's eye was similar to Sophie's most determined expression, so she sighed, and sat back down.

"It was nice meeting you two," she called, to the twins.

"And you," Donavan grinned. "See you at lunch." He dragged Donahue out of the room.

Eva wondered vaguely when that would be, then decided that if this base was anything like her last, it would be made obvious by the stampede of personnel for the cafeteria. She looked up at Loren, and said, "So."

Loren found a chair and dragged it over, turning it backwards and sitting astride it. "So. You met Hadian, huh?"

Eva opened her eyes very wide, put on her best innocent look, and tried not to panic. "Who?"

The blonde Warden sighed. "Look, it's all right. I dropped him, not the other way around."

Well, fine then. "He kidnapped me," she said, and said a mental apology to Hadian as she added, "I got away a few hours later and ran back to the base. That's actually how I met Captain Abdulmanji."

Loren's eyebrows rose. "He kidnapped you? Wow, he got worse at picking up girls."

Eva spluttered and then giggled for a solid minute.

"I don't think he was trying to pick me up," she said, once she got her breath back. "Just, um, help. In a twisted way."

"Knowing him… yeah, probably," Loren agreed easily. "He tends to be rash. I think it's the Latin in him. A lot of people back home tend towards it."

"Um," Eva said. It wasn't an agreement or a disagreement. "Well. It could have been worse."

"Yeah, quite likely. Did he say why he grabbed you?"

Eva eyed Loren for a moment. Should she… well, Lieutenant Schuster had had some nasty things to say about the Odin's Spear Firemen, and Loren had been trained in this unit. Maybe she'd be all right. "He said the Firemen chasing him would try to hurt me, because I hadn't stopped him," she said, at last.

"….yeah, sounds like him," Loren agreed. "Virginia? Let me guess, Odin's Spear?"

"Yes," Eva said, and shivered, involuntarily. "They came back when they couldn't find him and took me in, and… and if Lieutenant Schuster hadn't come along I think that would not have been pleasant."

Loren's face darkened, and she spat out something nasty-sounding in Italian. Eva caught "sons", "gutter", and, bizarrely, something about hamsters.

Fascinated, she waited until Loren was finished, then asked, "Will you teach me that? Please? I'm learning Italian but I've never heard anything like that."

Loren coughed. "Um. None of that was really fit for polite company." But the dark look was gone, and she was smiling again.

"I like languages," Eva said. "Even the impolite words. Especially the impolite words, sometimes. My siblings only speak German and English and it's nice to have an advantage."

"We'll see," Loren said. "But going back to what you mentioned before… yes. Hadian was definitely right to do that." She sighed. "Odin's Spear is being dealt with." A pause, then she eyed Eva. "I don't suppose you'd mind writing an account of what happened with them?"

Eva cocked her head to the side. "If you like. But nothing really happened, just… I felt like it was going to." And while that was, in her case, probably admissible evidence, she'd prefer to keep her emphatic tendencies out of the Alliance's paperwork as long as possible.

"It could help." Loren smiled beatifically. "There have been several complaints lodged against them and their tendency to treat victims as criminals."

"All right then," she said. "I'll write it up tonight. Should I give it to Captain Abdulmanji, or will you still be here?"

"I'll still be here." Loren's beatific smile turned into an honest grin. "I've got a week's leave to train my replacement here."

"Oh? Who's that?" Not the twins, obviously, because they'd been here before she was promoted. The ex-Warden, maybe?

"According to my orders, Officer Ishbal."

Ishbal? Well, that would explain… precisely nothing, actually. Eva opted for the diplomatic route. "She's my roommate," she said. "She seems very nice."

"Is she?" Loren sounded curious. "I've never met her - she joined up right around the same time I got promoted, and the captain picked her up a month later."

"I only met her a short time ago," Eva confessed. "But yes, she seems very nice. Very… young, though." Of course, so was she.

"I was pretty young myself when I joined," Loren admitted. "Barely eighteen, Of course, Angelpants was seventeen when he joined, so… whatever. Better us clever younguns than some of the old hidebound idiots."

Angelpants. Hadian had mentioned him; Eva remembered the mad fit of giggles that had resulted. But maybe better not to mention that. "That is certainly true," she said, diplomatically, and then, less so, "Some of Uncle Fredrich's co-workers are not to be borne."

Loren rolled her eyes. "Neither are some of mine, to tell you the truth."

"I haven't heard particularly good things about the Wardens," Eva admitted, and then added, "though it was all from rebels or Fire."

Loren sighed. "I was promoted because I have a particular skill that many of my fellows lack. To use a manly metaphor, they're all hammers, and I'm closer to a Swiss Army Knife."

Eva was fluent in English, but sometimes idioms escaped her. As this one did. "I'm… sorry?"

The Warden smiled. "I'm sorry, I was referencing one of my father's sayings: 'When all you have is a hammer, all your problems begin to look like nails.'"

"Ah!" Eva said, suddenly enlightened. "So you're a more… creative thinker, then."

Loren nodded, and grinned. "Most Wardens are evocators; I'm a thaumaturgist. I'm a touch more versatile."

"I see," Eva said, and she did, really. "My uncle has a theory about that, actually. He thinks men tend to be evocators because they're socialized to be, ah, reckless." Uncle Fredrich had been a good bit more caustic than that, but it didn't translate well.

"That could be," Loren admitted. "I know I was further trained by Captain Abdulmanji's mother… I should look at the numbers of evocators and thaumaturgists sometime."

"It certainly holds true in my family," Eva said, and then, because she was essentially honest and Sophie was an evocator, added, "Mostly."

"There are always exceptions." Loren grinned. "The gap may be closing anyway."

"Oh?" Eva asked, sitting up straighter. "I hadn't heard anything like that…"

"Maybe not in the military, but it's possible for the civilian world," Loren admitted. "I was looking at some of the rebels' files, and they actually seem to have a nice balance of evocators and thaumaturgists across both genders."

Eva propped her chin on her hand. "I wonder if that's not because they're rebels," she said, a little shyly. "I mean, if it depends on your personality, well, they need forceful and subtle in equal balance, so… never mind, that doesn't make any sense."

"Well, if you look at their leaders, it might," Loren replied. "Murphy is much more subtle than Dresden." She paused. "Of course, a tsunami is more subtle than Dresden…"

Eva giggled. "I've heard stories. Didn't he blow up an entire supply depot by accident once?"

The other woman grinned. "Yes. Yes, he did."

"There were so many stories about him," Eva said. "Some of the girls said he eats babies. And some of them said he's the handsomest thing since the Scarlet Pimpernel." She shrugged.

Loren looked thoughtful. "Well, the baby-eating is outright falsehood. But as for handsome… mm. Not handsome, I don't think, but attractive in a more dangerous way. It's the Bad Boy image."

Eva sat bolt upright, eyes wide. "You've met him?"

Loren laughed. "Oh, no. But I've seen his wanted posters."

"Oh," Eva said, feeling rather ashamed. "I see."

"If I'd met Dresden, I'd probably be a prisoner," Loren explained. "I have my skills, but if I fought Dresden…" She snorted. "There aren't many wizards who could fight him on even footing. And the rebellion has one of them now."

"It's not going very well, is it?" Eva asked. "The war against the rebellion, I mean."

Loren sighed. "It's honestly hard to say. I think it will end soon, though." She frowned. "Too many things are coming together…"

Eva blinked. "Things coming together? What do you mean?"

"Have you heard of Donald Morgan?" Loren asked instead.

"Yes," Eva said, still puzzled. "He's the great traitor, isn't he?"

"Well, he is now," Loren explained. "He left the Wardens about ten years back, and then went completely to the ground. He was never seen aiding the rebellion until a few months ago."

"What changed?" Because something must have. People didn't change their minds like that, so suddenly.

"I don't know. And I don't know how to find out." Loren sighed. "And then there's the measures Merlin DuMorne is taking to defeat the rebellion. Just little things like that are making me feel that this will be over in a few years, at the most."

"I think we're losing," Eva said, her voice very quiet and small. "Just… from things I've heard. Why would we be so brutal if we were winning?"

"Because Justin DuMorne is the Merlin," said a new voice quietly.

Eva jumped, and shoved away from the table so she could turn around, eyes wide. "Oh, I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything… seditious or anything, I'm sorry…"

The voice belonged to a serious, tired-looking man. His clothes were rumpled, his hair mussed and unkempt. "Shamus," said Loren softly, rising and moving to give him a quick hug. He didn't hug her back, but briefly hid his face in her hair.

Shamus. The twins had mentioned him. Eva stood up, and clasped her hands at her midsection, waiting nervously for them to acknowledge her or ask her to go away. Be quiet, be still, do not ask about Uganda…

After a moment, Shamus glanced at her, though his eyes didn't meet hers. "Frankly, Miss van Marsen, Harry Dresden could be standing in the corner dancing a jig and I wouldn't care."

Eva blinked, startled. This was not at all what they'd led her to expect. "R-really? Not even if it was a very good jig?"

He didn't smile, though his eyes seemed to briefly lighten. "Not even then." He took the seat Loren offered to him and tilted his face to the ceiling, all but basking in the witchlights. "To clarify my answer - DuMorne became the Merlin after murdering the previous one. In the years since then, things in the Alliance have worsened for the weak and the powerless. Many young wizards are growing bitter with a system that rewards the powerful and treats the weak like slaves - not to mention the rising racial tensions."

Racial tensions made Eva uncomfortable; she clasped her hands a little tighter. "And there's the unnecessary brutality," she said, hoping it wasn't crazy. "My uncle, he says it used to be easier. There used to be laws, what you could and couldn't do. He said they're gone now, though."

"Mm," said Shamus. "Not so much gone as they are ignored. The old protections are why the captain can get away with as much as he does. I also think the Commander tends to look the other way when slavery gets involved."

"I wouldn't know," Eva said, still feeling profoundly uncomfortable. "We never had any, and Uncle Fredrich didn't like to talk about his."

Shamus looked to Loren, who shrugged. "Don't look at me. My mom thought having slaves was tacky. Mortal servants, sure, but not slaves."

"We were too poor," Eva said, and looked down at her hands.

"Most people are," Shamus said, a slight hint of dryness to his tone. "The powerful remain powerful and are rewarded. The less powerful suffer for it. That is the world we live in now."

He did not have to tell Eva that; she was six thousand miles and half a continent away from her real home because of it. "It's coming to an end, though," she said, softly, and looked up at Loren. "You said it, and I think you're right. This can't last."

"Someone will push," Loren agreed. "Us or them, I don't know. I think the Merlin would prefer it to be us."

"That's why he promoted you," Shamus commented.

Eva hoped with a sudden vicious force that they would be the ones to break. But she didn't say it. Instead, she looked at Loren with wide eyes. "Why did they promote you? I heard there was a story but I didn't hear what it was."

Loren smiled sadly. "It was quite a story, but it shouldn't have happened."

"Bad intel," Shamus explained to Eva.

"Try no intel," Loren corrected.

"Did somebody die?" Eva asked, appalled. Intel was her job, or rather the clear communication of it was, and to think that some small mistake could or would or had led to someone's death chilled her to the bone.

The other two nodded solemnly. "And the captain - well, he was a lieutenant then - and I nearly followed suit," Loren added. "Our former captain had set the three of us to track a thief who'd been robbing warehouses. It was such a simple thing that he didn't even bother to get any recon done."

"Oh, Lord," Eva said. "He was fired, right? Please tell me he was fired."

"I don't think 'fired' is exactly the right word to use," Shamus said quietly.

Loren shuddered. "I had to work some quick and dirty thaumaturgy to save myself and the captain. It was witnessed by a Warden, who reported the entire situation to none other than Merlin DuMorne."

"And he promoted you," Eva said, and sat down. "Goodness."

"Personally, even," Loren said. "He was… impressed by how we had gotten out of the situation. I presume he asked around, since there are very few thaumaturgists in the Wardens, and found out about my tracking ability."

"What was he like?" Eva asked. She thought she had a pretty good idea, but she'd never actually met someone who'd been in the same room.

Silence grew for a long moment, then Loren said, "Intense."

"Overwhelming," Shamus added.

"Charismatic," said Loren after a moment's thought.

Eva silently resolved to never be in the same room as the Merlin, ever. "I see."

Loren closed her eyes. "At least it was him and not Elaine."

"Elaine?" she asked. "His daughter? I've heard… things… about her."

"Some of them are probably true," said Shamus. "Some of them probably aren't. But she's very…"

"Loyal?" suggested Loren.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"To a fault," Eva suggested.

"And possibly beyond." Shamus sighed.

"Can you do something beyond a fault?" Eva asked, trying to turn the conversation away from anything that might become treasonous. "It doesn't seem linguistically possible."

Both Warden and former Warden blinked. "I… don't know?" Loren said. "Huh. I never thought about it before."

Eva shrugged. "That's what I do. I think about words."

"Sounds interesting," Shamus said, a small smile coming to his face.

Eva gave him a shy smile. "It is to me, very much. I like thinking about how language works. It tells you so much about how people think, too."

"I think I should like to discuss it more with you," he told her. Behind him, Loren's eyebrows rose. "Though not right now," he added, leaning back in his chair. "I think we're due for lunch soon."

Loren wriggled in delight. "Ooh, yay. Is the captain cooking?"

"The captain cooks?" Eva asked, looking back and forth between Shamus and Loren. It was a bewildering concept.

"Anyone who can does a stint of KP," explained Loren. "The people who can't cook - me, for instance - tend to get cleanup instead."

"Oh, I see," Eva said, although she didn't, but it didn't really matter if she didn't understand. She was only the translator. "Where do I sign up, then?"

"I'll show you after lunch," promised Shamus. Loren hid a smile.

"Thank you," she said, and smiled at him again. "I don't really know how these military bases work. I was…" kept- "stationed with a large group of translators, and they didn't exactly keep discipline."

"You'll find the captain has interesting ideas of discipline," Loren said, grinning. "But he does try to keep some things regular. Everyone pitching in, for example."

"That seems reasonable enough," Eva said, nodding.

"Speaking of which," Shamus added, "the captain'll probably want to talk to you about what you'll be doing with us."

Eva nodded, and tried to hide the sudden surge of nervousness. She'd met Captain Abdulmanji; he was kind enough. He wouldn't be mean or angry. "When would that be?"

"Somewhere between lunch and dinner. He'll probably send Hans for you."

She smiled. "Oh, good. I like Lieutenant Schuster."

Loren giggled. "He's very likeable."

"He flirted with me," Eva said. "Not actually to flirt, I think, but just to make me feel better. I thought that was nice."

Shamus smiled, an odd little smile.

"It's easy to be nice to you, Eva," Loren said. "You're a very sweet girl."

Confused, Eva glanced at Loren, and then Shamus. "I… thank you?"

"You're a nice person," Loren clarified. "And you think."

"Doesn't everyone?" Eva asked, still confused. "I mean, except for most teenagers and anyone who could be called a fundamentalist."

"You'd be surprised," Shamus said with a small scowl.

"I suppose," Eva said, and bit her lip. "I just don't… everyone I've met thinks."

"Clearly I should spend more time with you," said Loren, smiling gently at her.

"I'd like that," Eva said, and surprised herself by meaning it.

Loren's smile widened at that. "Maybe we can go to town sometime. Bring Ishbal along."

A chance to spend time with other women who didn't think she was insane or too quiet? "Absolutely," Eva said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. "I'd really like that."

Loren nodded. "We can talk to Ishbal about it over lunch."

"Carefully," Shamus cautioned, looking at the Warden. "Ishbal is… shy."

"I think she might like to go," Eva said. "She and I are roommates, and she seemed nice, just… quiet."

Loren nodded. "I'll keep it in mind," she promised.

"Let's see," Eva said aloud, thoughtfully. "I've met you, Warden, and Officer Ishbal, and Lieutenant Schuster and the twins, and you… sir," she added, resolving her brief confusion over Shamus's actual title as quickly as possible, "and I've already met the Captain. Is that everyone?"

"Yep," said Shamus.

Loren grinned. "We're a merry little band."

"Merrier," added the voice of Lieutenant Schuster, "since we have a smart Captain now."

Eva twisted around and gave Lieutenant Schuster a bright smile. "Hello!"

He grinned back at her. "Hey. You settling in all right?"

"Very well, thank you," she said. "I was just talking to Warden DelGreco about the time I got kidnapped. Remember?"

He laughed. "Oh, yes. Very unkind things your uncle said. All well-deserved."

She giggled herself. "I didn't hear him myself, but I can well imagine. Uncle Fredrich swears very creatively."

"I was well-impressed." He took a seat beside her. "Never heard some of those words strung together before."

"I think you have to have dealt with bureaucracy for at least thirty years to get that level," Eva told him, solemnly.

Hans made a face. "Urgh. Maybe I won't try to level up."

Loren eyed him. "Who let you have those Gygax books back?"

Gygax? Eva didn't ask. "It's not really worth the effort," she agreed. "Although I suppose you could crib from Uncle Fredrich."

He beamed. "I'll do that."

"So, um." Eva glanced at Shamus quickly, then back at Lieutenant Schuster. "Does the captain want to see me, then?"

"Nah," he said. "But it's close to lunch, and the twins mentioned you were here."

"Oh," Eva said. She grinned, then. "I like them, too. They remind me of my brother."

Hans shuddered. "I can't imagine having siblings like them."

"That's because you would have been one yourself if you weren't an only child," Loren drawled.

"Anton's not all that bad," Eva protested. "And I'm sure the twins aren't either. Unless you let them have what they want."

Shamus offered her a small smile. "Nobody is that foolish."

"Anton's not any trouble if you just ignore him," Eva said. "And yell at him, sometimes."

"Then the captain is definitely handling them right." The new voice was shy and female - Ishbal had arrived.

Eva smiled at her too. "Hello! It's nice to see you again."

"And you as well," murmured the younger girl.

"Did you enjoy your book?" Eva asked.

Ishbal smiled. "I did, yes."

Loren grinned. "Hi. You must be Officer Ishbal." She offered the younger girl her hand.

After a startled moment, Ishbal hesitantly shook it. "Yes, I am."

"I'm Loren DelGreco. I got called down to train you."

"She's very nice," Eva added. "We were talking. Everyone here is really nice, actually." She wouldn't mention the thing about Hadian.

Ishbal's shy smile grew. "Yes, they are."

"Sometimes," Hans said added.

"Liar," Shamus muttered.

"All the time!" Eva protested. "Remember when the Odin's Spear hauled me in? You pulled me out again." She smiled. "You took me home. Sophie flirted with you."

Shamus said, "Odin's Spear is filled with douchecanoes who don't give a damn about innocence versus guilt."

"And you were innocent," Hans added, smiling at Eva. "You didn't deserve any of what they put you through."

Not so innocent, but she wasn't going to bring that up here. Instead, she beamed at both of them. "Yes, but you still helped me," she said to Hans. "So you are so a nice person."

"I, however, am not a nice person," said yet another new voice. Process of elimination indicated it must be the captain.

At his pronouncement, however, his squad and Loren began to snicker.

"Croft," Ishbal said.

"That mortal boy and his Favoured girl," Shamus added.

"Alanna O'Reilly," Loren put in.

Lot glared at them all.

Eva dropped into a quick curtsey and murmured, "Captain," resolving as she did to get someone to explain Alanna O'Reilly to her as soon as possible. "I didn't see you come in."

He bowed. "I am as the ninja."

"Silent as the ballerina?" suggested Hans.

Eva wasn't sure if he'd take that as an insult or not, so she added quickly, "Ballerinas are very quiet. My sister Sophie is one and she makes practically no noise when she walks."

"You'd look good in a pink tutu, Cap'n," Loren added mischievously.

"Impudence," Lot said without heat. "Food's on. If you don't want the twins to eat it all, get a move on."

Eva could at least guess that this was a joke, so instead of commenting, she asked, "What's for lunch?" hoping for something better than the standard Fire slop that they'd fed the translators in Virginia.

"Jambalaya."

Before he finished the word, Loren and Hans had were out of their seats and bolting for what was presumably the kitchen.

Eva followed, on the assumption that anything that had Hans running that fast would taste good, and asked, "What's jambalaya?" on the way.

"A popular dish in New Orleans," explained Shamus. "Captain's from there. It's basically meat, veggies, rice, and spices. If you know what you're doing, it is really good. And the captain knows what he's doing."

Eva stopped dead, astonished. "The captain made lunch?"

He grinned. "Lot Abdulmanji loves to cook. He gets it from his mom, I think."

"But he's the captain," Eva said, still stuck on that.

"He could make Commander and he'd keep making lunch, I think."

"That just seems strange," Eva said, but started walking again. "You are not a normal Fire unit."

"Absolutely not." Shamus smiled. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Oh, yes," Eva said, without intending to, but she meant it, she decided. After a moment of careful thought, she added, "Much better than my last one."

"Welcome to Themis' Dogs, Eva," he said. "Let's get lunch."