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Talyn carried a lit torch to fend off the coming shadows as she walked across the grounds toward the gatehouse. Funnily enough it was for the same reason as her fellow commander: she needed more ink. Unlike her previous second-in-command types, she had been unable to drive Riptide away by making all the paperwork his responsibility. Instead the sea otter had taken to the task with gusto. He seemed to love setting a form on his desk, whipping out his quill, and filling it out using very bold, slashing pen strokes. It seemed like an odd kind of game to him in which he strove to perfect his penmanship… or something. Talyn thought the whole ritual was rather odd, especially the way Riptide would mutter “take that!” every time he crossed his ‘t’s. Due to this he loved signing Talyn’s name on anything, and the squirrel commander was seriously considering starting to do some of the paperwork again on her own just to avoid Riptide’s odd behavior. That and he used up unreal amounts of ink because of all his wild quill waving and his violent crossing of ‘t’s.

The squirrel’s thoughts were drawn away from her crazy colonel and switched instead to the crazy West Tower Commander. Talyn sighed openly and waved at Tally. If it wasn’t one insane otter it was another. It seemed there was just no way for her to avoid them today, and if she had to put up with one or the other she would rather it be Tally. At least when she was with the West Tower Commander she didn’t have to worry that she was setting up a prank in her office. That happened often enough that Talyn checked her office door automatically by now.

“Hey. No doubt you’re headed to the gatehouse, hm? Because that’s where I’m headed, and with my luck that’s naturally your destination as well.”

Talyn fell into step beside the otter, and as they approached the gatehouse they saw Telo scuttle out of it and work to open the large wooden gate. Apparently there were some new arrivals, and the two commanders each slowed slightly to see who it was.

And then everything happened very quickly.

The travelers from outside emerged, revealing five armed squirrels and a female otter with a cane. Their eyes were immediately drawn to the torch in Talyn’s paws, and moved quickly from the light to its bearer. Talyn’s eyes grew wide as her mind flashed back to a time long ago, and each of the five squirrels before her were there.

Shouts of “Her!” and “Attack!” rang out at the same time from the small squirrel band, and they quickly drew their weapons and got into a formation in front of the otter.

“What are you doing here?!” Talyn snarled.
But the question went ignored by both its asker and receiver, as the squirrel chieftain and Talyn launched themselves at one another. Talyn’s torch tore through the air in a fiery arc, and the sound of a blade sinking into the wood seemed to echo across the grounds.

-

Jade had entered the gates along with the rest of her companions as they were granted entrance. Her mind was filled with thoughts of being greeted by her brother—however, they were soon interrupted by something very unexpected.

“Her!”

“Attack!”

The sound of weapons being drawn by her squirrel friends was unmistakable. Jade was stunned and confused by their actions. Her first thought was that they had been tricked, and that they had been faced with vermin on the inside of the fort. In her fear she gripped her cane and tried to shrink away from the fight, her mind working furiously about what to do if they were surrounded by vermin. Back when she had her sight she would hardly have thought such things, but battle was a very different place for a blind beast. Jade was defenseless when it came right down to it.

“What are you doing here?!”

The sound of this new voice could easily have led Jade to believe that they really were surrounded by vermin, but it was actually the snarl that followed it that alerted her to the reality of the situation. Squirrel snarls had a very particular sound to them. The otter had learned this early on traveling with Omihran and his warriors.

Jade felt the chieftain surge forward, and a split second later she realized he was attacking the new voice. He was attacking a fellow squirrel!

“NO!” she screamed and lunged forward herself. Her arms flailed wildly and her cane came in contact with one of the warriors she had just chatted with about dinner outside the gate. Unknown to her she had probably saved Talyn’s life, as her cane struck the notched bow of the squirrel and caused him to fire his arrow far to the right of the two fighters. He had been seconds away from taking a shot into the fray.

As she became off balanced and fell to her knees Jade heard the sound of Omihran’s dirk hum through the air. She winced as it struck wood. It sickened her to think that he was attacking another squirrel.

“What are you doing?!’ she bellowed, her clear voice carrying over the sounds of the fight.

“Jade, you can’t see so you don’t understand!” The sound of Omihran’s voice cut through everything and seemed to stab at the otter they were so harsh. ”This is the traitor that caused the death of my entire tribe!”