Chapter 68: 68 - Bigger Than Us

Spahen took a deep breath and then leaned forward, clasping his hands together with his elbows on his knees. “Alright, first things first, from Seliga: congratulations on surviving your first year out here. Except for the handfuls of personal items we stowed on the carts, the supplies we brought are a gift from the Bear Tribe leader, including the carts themselves and the horses that pulled them here.”

Both Callida and Rogue were floored. “That’s… unbelievably generous,” Callida eventually managed a response through rising emotions.

“I think she’s rooting for you, Beta,” Spahen returned with a small smile. “She’s been impressed with how well you’ve been managing here. At least, she has stated on numerous occasions in council meetings that hardy neighbors are good ones to have. Once you get more securely on your feet, I know she hopes to establish more formal relations with your colony.”

“I’ll have to write a ‘thank you’ note for you to take back with you.”

“I’m sure that would be appreciated,” Spahen said and sat up in a stretch that became a more formal posture. “Alright. I’m also here to represent the Council of Elders on a few, pressing issues.”

Just then, the door swung open, and Gravis and Ablenkung blundered through it while carrying too much stuff — most of it looked like camping gear — to set against the wall by the family shoe bin. “Sorry to interrupt,” Shield offered awkwardly.

“You’re just in time for the heavier stuff,” Professor informed him. “Take your seats.”

“Right.” The largest and broadest of the three bears and the hulking Gravis had to scoot their adjacent chairs back to make enough room for their shoulders. It amused Callida greatly, probably more than it should have, and she bit into her lip to keep herself from laughing.

“Alright. Council of Elders business. Beta, Ulakam is in a state of upheaval right now. I’m guessing you’ve heard very little about it being isolated out here?”

“We’re pretty isolated, yes.”

Spahen nodded, his lips pinching into a thin line as he decided where to start. “I have four major points I’ve been sent to discuss with you. First, establishing lines of communication to make you less isolated. With your permission, we have some enterprising people in our tribe who would like to take advantage of the marked trail from our territory through yours to this colony to build inns and waypoints, if you will, for travelers to rest or purchase supplies. A chain of establishments like that would more readily enable lines of communication as messengers would have easy stopping places. So that’s the first point, and we can discuss it in finer detail later.”

“Ok,” Callida acknowledged.

“Second, we need to discuss the passage of hopeful colonists through the Bear Tribe territory with you. It’s… gotten complicated, which actually leads into the third point. I need to update you on some world events.”

“Ok. What’s going on?”

“There is political upheaval everywhere. Like, it’s ubiquitous. Primordialists everywhere are screaming for their governments to recognize your claim as the parents of prophecy and some of them believe that you, Rogue, specifically, are the Great Unifier himself. In turn, governments everywhere are struggling to navigate things. Some of the smaller tribes are locking down their populations because a mass exodus of believers would cripple their tribe. The Bear Tribe has been asked by several of these tribes to please turn away their own citizens at our borders. It just means these people are taking riskier and less legal routes to get here.”

“Primordials,” Rogue muttered.

“And then there are some tribes that have responded by rounding up all the Primordialists in their territories with the intention of sending them packing this spring. We’ve been tracking at least two massive groups that have been expelled from the Turul Tribe and the Bison Tribe. Our estimates have them arriving here in two months, and their numbers are…. Beta, based on what we’re seeing, your colony will triple or quadruple in the next six months.”

“Oh.” An icy numbness trickled slowly through her limbs, and Callida felt the early signs of a panic attack grip her chest and mind. Rogue noticed and quietly placed his hand against her back, and Callida started paying attention to her breath, dropping her face into her hands until the panic subsided. “Ok. That’s good to know now while we still have time to prepare. Primordials. Anything else?”

Spahen’s brow had furrowed, but he continued. “There are other tribes on the brink of civil war over this.”

“Oh. Is that all?” Callida asked sarcastically in a desperate bid for humor.

“Which brings me to my fourth point. Dragon King Ekata has sent a rather desperate plea asking ‘his distant cousin and fellow leader, Qiangde Yudha,’ to join him for a series of open negotiations with the public. It is his hope that these negotiations will help him to stave off civil war. You’ve been called out, Rogue.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Gravis chimed in a little gruffly. “Seliga thought a bodyguard with a familiar face might make it easier for you to leave with us.”

“Leave?” Rogue clearly wasn’t excited by the thought. “What am I supposed to do to… to prevent war?!”

“Be the Great Unifier they think you are,” Spahen stated simply. “Call for peace. Tell them you don’t want violence committed in your name and welcome them to join you here if that is their wish.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Rogue snorted reactively, finding perverse humor in such a suggestion, and then sobering when no one else even cracked a smile. Callida watched him throw up a defensive smirk. “So I just go visit my long lost cousin, kiss some babies, bestow empty blessings, soak up all the hero worship, and then tell everyone to please cease and desist? It’s not like anyone would listen to me!”

Callida set an understanding, and hopefully reassuring, hand on his leg. “Rogue–”

“What?! I’m a nobody!” He nearly shouted. “You know it; they know it. Everyone knows it! Callida, I’m a nobody. I’m an orphaned waif that found shelter in the wastelands. I’m a nameless, forgettable bandit. The only notable thing I’ve ever done in this life is marry you!”

“Rogue–”

“We’re going to take our leave for the night, Beta,” Spahen said and very deliberately stood up, the rest of the group not a half second behind him. “I’m sure you have a lot you need to discuss. We can pick this back up tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Spahen.”

The group shuffled out with the demeanor of boys caught trying to swipe pies from a window sill, and Callida turned to Rogue the moment the door was shut behind them.

“I’m sorry,” Rogue blurted before she could say anything. “I ruined the evening.”

“It’s ok. I’m not upset.”

“But I’m not what these people think I am! I’m not a leader, not really, and no, being a camp leader in the Resistance doesn’t count. And you are the leader of this colony more than I am with your ex-military government thing you’ve got going on. Callida, I really am a nobody.”

“Rogue–”

“I don’t get why people think I’m somehow better than that. Is it because I’m an Alpha wolf host? Like that matters! Is it my surname? I barely even remember my childhood family, Callida. My family name means almost nothing to me! I have no formal training of any kind; I’m not even a proper doctor! What qualifies me to be the Great Unifier? I’ve done nothing to earn that title, and I’m no hero! I’ve unified nothing. I am noth–”

Unable to stand a single, self-derogatory statement more from him, Callida aggressively grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him into a kiss to shut him up, refusing to let him free again until he stopped fighting it. “And yet, you are everything to me.” He seemed to want to argue with her before he thought better of it and instead began studying his toes. “Rogue, listen to me. I can’t make you feel like somebody when you are determined to believe that you are nobody, and look, I get it. I’ve been feeling like an imposter since this whole thing started, and I’ve felt inadequate and scared and angry and bitter and exhausted…. But maybe it’s not about how we feel anymore. This is bigger than us — so much bigger — and I’m not talking about the stupid prophecy. Frankly, I don’t believe in the prophecy, and I know you don’t either, so let’s just take the prophecy nonsense out of the equation for a minute.

“This situation isn’t so different from the one that pushed us to leave the Lion Tribe and start the colony. We left the Lion Tribe to protect people under threat, remember? We left to save lives. Now there is an entire tribe of people under threat out there. King Ekata is trying his best to save his people from destroying each other, and he’s asked for your help on the slim chance that you’ll even get the invitation, let alone accept it.

“The question we need to discuss is: will you go to the Dragon Tribe to try and help King Ekata save his people from civil war? Is that even possible right now? Rogue, this has nothing to do with you being some fantastical savior of the world or not. This only has to do with your willingness to go.”

She stopped lecturing him and stepped back to process his reaction to her breakdown. He was frowning, his face pinched in thought and with emotions that were probably as unpleasant as they were overwhelming. Eventually he sighed, shoulders sagging with exhaustion, hand lifting to run irritably over his face. “You’re right,” he admitted with frustration. “I mean, I can’t argue with anything you said. You’re just right. You’re always right.” He flopped ungracefully into the nearest chair and sat shaking his head to himself between shifting from one agitated position to another in the prolonged silence that followed. “What do you want me to say to that, Callida? Am I supposed to cheerfully take up this burden that’s been dropped into my lap and skip off to the Dragon Tribe for the next, I don’t know, three to six months? Or more? I figure it’ll be at least a month there and a month back plus however many months are needed spent in ‘public negotiations’. We have five young children, Callida. This is a time we’ll never get back with them, and in six months, Tajam and Ddalu might not even recognize me anymore.”

“You’re right,” Callida nodded sadly, and slipped gingerly into the seat next to him.

“I’m tired of constantly being separated from you, m’lady. I swear, we’ve spent more or our marriage apart than together. I’m just tired of all of… this. And it’s never going to get easier, is it?”

“No. Probably not.”

He sighed heavily again and zoned out on a point far, far away, looking more defeated than anything else. Callida started playing lovingly with his long curls, expressing affection to make up for a lack of comforting words. Eventually, Rogue turned to look at her, and Callida let her hand still upon his shoulder as he studied her. “M’lady, do you know that I love you?” She smiled and leaned in to make herself accessible to him, and Rogue partook, something sorrowful and deeply tender in the way he kissed her. When Rogue had gotten his fill, Callida shifted from her chair into his lap so she could hug him and quietly tip her forehead to his while he continued to process. “The real question isn’t if I’m willing to go or not. It’s if I could live with myself knowing that I stood by and ignored pleas for help as an entire tribe fell into war.”

“Rogue?” she prompted after another moment spent in silence. He groaned miserably, and Callida knew it was because he’d found the answer to his revised question and wished that it was different.

“M’lady….”

“I know.” Her face dropped sadly, her eyes tearing up from the impact of his choice hitting her with unexpected force. Curse it all if he wasn’t so darn compassionate and wonderful! “We’ll be alright,” she mumbled the bitter assurance.

“You always are.” He lifted her chin to encourage her eyes to meet his, and the next moment, Callida was soaking up more of his kisses as they both grew emotional in the face of yet another long separation. Soon she’d been swept up in a bridal carry, so Rogue could feel their way to the bedroom door without the need to disengage.