*Trigger warning: traumatic injury, derogatory name for physical disability*
Relland groaned as the sun pierced through their curtains, wincing as they woke up. They reach out with their left hand to pull off their blankets, then stifling a cry of pain as the bandaged wound that was now their wrist, brushed against the covers. They cradled their arm against them, then looked at their stump, when the flashbacks of yesterday poured into their mind.
The inspection of the ironpine the suspicious merchant brought.
Finding the nest of razormoths in a hollow of the wood, the insects scattering when the light hit them. Holding up their hand to shield their face
Hearing a wet thud as their hand hit the ground.
The reactions of their fellow guards and captain were swift. Some shut doors to prevent escape, others grabbed torches and burned the insects as they landed or flew through the air, and their captain, a deceptive looking flower of a woman, threw the merchant onto a bench and shackled him to it. She then screamed, “HEALER!” and ran to Relland.
Relland dropped to a knee to pick up their hand, saying weakly, “Captain Zern, I think some one lost…” she grabbed them as they started to keel over, pulling off her sash to wrap the limb. Relland blinked, their mind slowing, “Oh, it’s mine…”
They snapped back from the memory, asking outloud, “So the healers couldn’t save it?”
Captain Larie Zern cleared her throat from the corner, making Relland jump from surprise to find her in the room. She bows her head, “Sorry, Officer Tyl, they could not.”
Relland felt the sorrow filling them, asking a question they already had the answer to, “I’m going to be retired from the Lancers because of this?”
The captain stifled the sob she was choking down and nodded. Relland released the wails they were holding and she came and hugged them, rocking them as they mourned the loss of everything they had worked for, choking out, “I had passed, I was getting my feathers tomorrow! And a fucking insect ruined it!” The captain continued to rock them, letting them work through their emotions, understanding all to well the pain of this loss.
A while later, they sit up shakily, and weakly ask, “What happens now?”
Captain Zern nods in approval, and explains, “You will be retired, with honors, rank, and payment of a second captain,” Relland tried to protest, but she held up a hand to stop them, “Yes, captain. I petition for it since you had passed with a high enough score for the rank.” She paused, looking away. “And since this was my fault.” She again silenced their protests, “Yes. I knew the merchant was a smuggler, likely had stolen the woods, and didn’t have the right seals on his paperwork from the logger’s inspections. But I was playing along with him, trying to get information, and didn’t think to warn you all it could be infested. That mistake cost you your, well, everything.”
Relland slouches, and nods in acceptance.
She cleared her throat and continued, “When you are healed, you will be given a day to gather your personal belongings, and say any goodbyes you want, and be either taken to your home, family, or inn and be officially relieved of duty and given the control of the account with your pay.”
They grimace, “Inn. I don’t have…” They cut themselves off with a shake of their head. “But, yeah.”
She pats their shoulder in understanding. “I will meet you in a few days, to lend you a han..” She stops and corrects herself, “To get you on your feet.”
They snort in amusement, “I know what you mean.” They smile at her, sadness still filling them, but a determination was starting to form, a thought crossing their mind.
Relland stood before their mirror, looking at the stump that was their wrist, face twisted with determination and strain, trying to make their shifting abilities grow them a new hand. They felt the muscles try to respond, their bones attempting to grow, but there was nothing forming. When their nose started to bleed, they stopped and slumped over the sink, “Damn it. Why isn’t this working?”
A knock at their room’s door made them straighten, “Uh, who is it?”
“It’s Larie.” Their former captain responded, “I got news.”
Relland opened the door, “Unless you got someone that can grow limbs…”
She pushes her way past them in their room, “Yes. Shut the door.”
“What?!” Relland obeyed, not taking their eyes off of her. “But, I thought that no one…”
“There is a man in Syn’viaxl, who has started to create limbs with a combination of metal and old magic tech.” She waves off their protests, “Yes, yes, I know that is far, but I’ll take care of the cost of travel and all that.”
“I’m more worried about the ramifications of that type of use of magic.” Relland tells her, “Isn’t magic tech forbidden?”
She gives them a grimace, “Yes.”
“Then why would…”
She cuts them off again, “Because it's ridiculous! This would help you join the Lancers again. It doesn’t do any harm.” Relland gives her an unconvinced look, and she continues, “I’ve never understood the laws of the temples that all magic tech discovered is to be destroyed.”
“Thats blasphemy to question the gods.”
“If we don’t question, how do we find the truth?”
“Ahhhh,” Relland understood, “You’ve been talking with the merchants of the Free Sands.”
“How else do you think I got the info I did?”
Relland sits on their bed, resting their chin in their hand as they think it through, torn. They had devoted their life to the temple and the Lancers since they were abandoned by their parents. But they have kept their shifting abilities a secret, knowing they would be, at the very least, shunned, if not outright offered to the temple as a vessel for the Sylph’s. They give the slightest shudder.
But, now, they were of no use to the temple, a cripple. Their former captain had also been removed from duty after the accident, with no chance of earning her place again. Once the temple saw you as useless, you were trash. So why should they follow their rules?
“I think I will go through with it. But I don’t think I’ll be joining the Lancers again.”
“Oh?” Larie was shocked, but could understand the hurt of abandonment, “Then what will you do?”
“I think I might be able to identify myself.”
“Oh?!” Now she was truly shocked, and a bit confused on the change of topic. “What is it?”
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