Several days had passed. The general mood of the city had sombered slightly when news had come down that a new ilKhan had been elected, but that it was Ulrich Kerensky of the Wolves. Fiona was only starting to pick up on some of the nuances of the differences between the clans, but one of the easiest things to pick up on had been the Falcon’s deep hatred and rivalry with Clan Wolf. The animosity went back centuries from what she understood, even to the founding of the clans.

There had been no word from Lovvins, but Abigail had mentioned that she expected he would be returning soon, and that they would hopefully depart soon after that for the invasion corridor. They had eaten only a light meal that evening, and afterwards, Abigail declared that the two of them had plans for the evening requiring they dress in their more formal clan leathers. It was the first time Fiona had worn hers. The tight, sleeveless corseted bodice made her feel as if she was standing permanently tall and proud and the snug leather leggings hugged every curve and muscle that she had worked so hard to sculpt over the last months. Together with black boots, it was hard not to feel proud and arrogant, as was no doubt the intent.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Somewhere that holds history and meaning for me. You will see.” Was the cryptic response.

They took a wheeled jeep out of the city, down progressively more rugged and less well maintained roads until they reached a checkpoint at a fenced compound. Abigail had the guard scan her codex, exchanged a few words with the soldier, and they were waved through. After a few turns down dirt roads past a series of dull, barracks-like structures, Abigail too the jeep off-road and down a cleared trail into the forest.

She took several turns, none of which were marked, and finally pulled up and stopped at a dirt embarkment and shut off the vehicle. She climbed out and signaled to Fiona to follow. She had a light with her that enabled them to make their way down a dirt path and down the slope of a hill until they came to a clearing.

The clearing was vast and contained tens of small camp fires scattered throughout. Some had people around them, some flickered away by themselves. On the opposite side she could make out another road from which small groups of people were periodically marching into the clearing. Abigail led them past several fires where there were groups of people, each group seeming to have one older warrior and a handful of young people, barely older than children, resplendent in Jade Falcon dress uniforms, some with capes, some wearing elaborate feathers, and so forth.

Finally they reached an empty fire, and Abigail gestured for Fiona to sit, then took a seat on the other side of the fire. 

“What is this place?” she asked.

Abigail gestured around. “This is one of many training installations scattered across Ironhold. This one is a so called Crash Camp site. It is for cadets in their final phase of warrior training. The ones you see here are perhaps a week or so away from their final trials.”

“They are barely adults, most of them.” She said incredulously.

Abigail nodded. “Aff. In some respects, I suppose, they are still somewhat children. But they are here tonight for their ritual of initiation. Tonight they will grow up, and in a few days time, they will either pass their trial and become warriors, or fail and go on to some other caste. I was barely seventeen when I passed my trial.”

Fiona laughed softly. “At that age, I was a first-year cadet.”

Abigail gestured at some of the small groups that were close enough to be discernable in the fire-lit night. “Each of those groups is what remains of a sibko and their Falconer. Once, there may have been fifty or sixty of them. Maybe twenty or thirty made it to actual training. Then over the last year, they have been whittled down to what you see here, five or six at most. My own sibko had only two of us make It this far, myself and a boy named Mordechai.”

Fiona smiled curiously, “”And what became of Mordechai? You told me before that you were the only of your sibko to become a warrior.”

Abigail smiled softly. “He failed miserably at our trial, and was relegated to the scientist caste to work with agricultural projects. I am not even certain that he damaged his first opponent in the trial, he had little aptitude for mech piloting and even less ability to stay calm under fire. That and he was thoughtful to a fault. If the clans had a poet caste or an exceedingly ponderous writer caste, he would have been assigned there.”

Fiona shared a laugh. “How did he make it this far then?”

Abigail shrugged. “Determination and fear of failure. He was quite brilliant, his scientific and technical scores carried him far past his combat deficiencies. He also had this foolishly romantic notion of the sibko as family, and was steadfastly determined not to wash out of it, and he also had a far too overzealous emotional attachment to me.”

Fiona grinned, “Aww, you mean he had a crush on you? That’s sweet.”

Abigail waved her hand. “It was not sweet, it was foolish and foul. He was always reading old literature that he conjured up from somewhere. I always blamed his foolishness on that. He would always babble on about literature and romance, especially after coupling.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you guys coupled? But you were in the same sibko, so you were like, related, right? So he was basically your brother.”

Abigail shrugged. “The sibko is different from what you freebirths call family. But yes, we coupled. I coupled with many of my sibkin in our sibko days. We all grew up together, and once we reached a certain age where hormones and desires manifested themselves, it was only natural for us to explore them. You have a brother, did you and he not couple when you were first coming of age?”

Fiona blinked, wide-eyed at the clanner. “Um…no. First, he is a couple of years older than me, and second….he’s my brother. That’s just….just no.”

Abigail looked confused. “Then where did you explore that part of growing up?”

Fiona shrugged. “Um...school, clubs, anywhere but with a relative? There are so many things wrong with that. Accidents happen, what happens if you get pregnant? Then it’s just gross.”

Abigail, chuckled. “Your language is slipping, surat. And that is not a possibility anyway. I do not understand the exact science of it, but we trueborns are artificially created, there is no chance of offspring coming naturally from two trueborns, we are beyond that. Think of it as a genetically modified plant engineered for greater yield, they do not sow seeds on their own and reproduce, they must be farmed.”

Fiona nodded. “So you trueborns are sterile?”

Abigail shrugged again. “I am no geneticist. It is simply the way of things. We are not totally sterile, it is not unheard of for a trueborn to sire children with lower caste freebirth women. It is vile and obscene, but it happens.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow. “You trueborns are so repulsed by procreation, yet that is your ultimate goal, is it not?”

Abigail nearly spat. “Neg! I have less than no desire to carry a freebirth child in me.”

Fiona shook her head. “No, that is not what I mean. You may not want to have a child, but you do want your genes to go on to the next generation, quiaff? You may want a scientist to do it in a lab, but you still want to procreate just the same. That is the whole point of a Bloodname, quiaff?”

Abigail waved her hand dismissively. “That is a vile comparison, totally not the same thing. Do not speak of a bloodname in such a ugly terms. The sacred gene pool and the breeding program is efficient and successful, not vile and dirty. Besides, you cannot tell me that as a warrior you would want yourself to be hindered by some parasite living in your belly and sucking its life blood out of you, quineg?”

“Well no, I do not wish to have a child. But my experience among freeborns in the Inner Sphere is that sometimes that changes later in life. Here among the clans, when I die, nothing of me will live on other than my deeds. I am comfortable with that now, but I am not so bold as to say it will always be so.”

Abigail shook her head. “As a clan warrior, it must be. You are a warrior for life. There is no time to bear freebirth children.”

Fiona nodded. “Do not worry, I am content. How did we ever get on this topic of discussion?”

“I was speaking foolishness about my sibko days.”

Fiona smiled. “It is not foolishness. I enjoy hearing about such things. It helps me to understand better what it means to be Clan. Where is your sibkin Mordechai now?”

Abigail shrugged. “I have no idea. I have had no contact with him since a few days after our trial, when he informed me of his posting to the scientist caste. I would imagine he is at some research outpost or other, conducting  agricultural research or overseeing some mundane crop project or other.”

“You never sought him out?”

She shook her head. “Neg. What would be the point? We have very different lives now. Neither of us would understand the other. Your sibling at least is a warrior, you share some understand of each other’s lives.”

There was a familiar voice from beyond the firelight. “Sitting and talking of failed sibkin and reminiscing of olden days? I had not thought you such a romantic, Abigail.” 

The two women scrambled to their feet to greet Lovvins as he walked into the light of the fire. “Star Commander, we did not expect you, you sent no word of your impending arrival. How did you find us at such a remote location?”

“A simple check of records saw you had logged transport, I merely queried the vehicle's transponder. Once I saw this location, I knew you must have come to the site of your initial trial. I thought maybe you would be talking of old battles or some such.”

Abigail shrugged. “It has been a rambling conversation. But enough of our banter. You are back. You have news, quiaff?”

His expression soured. “Aff, but do not get your hopes up. The news I have is mostly disappointing.”

Abigail threw her arms up. “We know of the results of the election and the elevation of the warden Ulric to the position of ilKhan. But even with the election of a Warden, the invasion must continue, quiaff?”

He nodded and continued. “Aff. But our news is mixed. The positive is that we three are to remain posted together.”

Abigail slapped Fiona on the shoulder. “That is good news, surat. I can show you how to properly wield an omnimech.” She turned back towards Lovvins. “You imply bad news. How bad can it be? We are to return to the invasion corridor, quiaff?”

“Aff, but our assignment is an insulting one. Galaxy Commander Angeline Mattlov has pulled her strings and had her vengeance on us. We are to be assigned to the Falcon Guards.”

Abigail spat “Savashri! That cannot be. There must be some mistake. After all, freebirths may not serve in the Falcon Guards, so it cannot be, quineg?”

Lovvins shook his head. “Aff, it can be. That is how far the Guards have fallen.”

Fiona interjected. “I do not understand. The Falcon Guards are a storied unit, quiaff? They are a frontline unit in the Jade Falcon Galaxy. What is the problem?”

Lovvins sighed. “The problem is that they were destroyed in disgrace. A lone Inner Sphere warrior demolished a canyon and all but obliterated the entire unit. The survivors were all sent to other units in disgrace. There was talk of not even reviving the unit, but the saKhan has had another idea. It will become a cesspool cluster for misfits and dezgra malcontents. They will allow freebirths, the old, the insubordinate. There will be a Falcon Guards because there must be, but it will be a garbage heap, a killer of careers.”

There was silence for a moment. Then Fiona spoke up. “You are looking at it the wrong way. This is a great opportunity.”

Lovvins shook his head. “I have come to respect you, Fiona, but you do not understand the situation. This will be a horde of malcontents and misfits to be scorned.”

She looked back and forth between the two dejected warriors. “No, seriously, do neither of you read? Or watch holos? This is like one of the biggest tropes there is. The team of cast-offs and misfits overcomes all odds to achieve victory in some unorthodox way? The Mighty Ducks, Star Wars, The Gray Death Legion, the Kathil Uhlans? None of this rings a bell?”

Abigail chimed in. “There is little time on the road to becoming a warrior for literature or holodramas or anything of the sort.”

“Well trust me, it is a thing. The rag-tag band of cast-offs and misfits bands together to find unity and show everyone how wrong they were. It’s perfect!”

Lovvins gave her an exasperated look. “You simply do not understand. This assignment is a death sentence for careers.”

She stepped forward with resolve. “Neg. It is you who do not understand. This is an opportunity. You wanted me as a bondsman because I see the unorthodox, the Inner Sphere way of thinking. Well you got me, so use me. This is a frontline assignment, in a unit that they will probably throw at impossible tasks in an attempt to rid themselves of us. We turn that into a weapon. We use the opportunity they wasted, we fight, we win, and we laugh at their ignorance. We become the best we can and we soak up every ounce of lost glory that those fools ignored. Quiaff?”

Three days later, the three of them once again found themselves in Lovvins apartment, this time hammering out plans for the immediate future. Lovvins stood with a gear bag thrown over his shoulder.

“ I must depart immediately for Strana Mechty. The election of a new ilKhan is very soon. The two of you will remain here. Once the election is complete, things will likely move very quickly. It is possible that the three of us could be stationed in different units, but I will do my best to avoid that. We must remain in the invasion corridor at any cost. Galaxy Commander Mattlov still harbors me some ill will, and I fear she will attempt to get me posted to some useless command far from the fighting. I will do all I can to prevent that. Use your time here wisely to prepare for the journey back to the front.”

With that, they exchanged goodbyes and Lovvins departed. It was late enough in the evening that there was little to be done in terms of training. They rummaged around and found some food, and watched a tri-vid broadcast discussing the upcoming election for ilKhan and the presumed resumption of the invasion of the Inner Sphere. When it concluded, they both decided that they were too wound up for sleep and instead headed out for a quick jog around some of the city’s more tourist-like attractions to burn off some energy.

Neither of their billets was as nice as Lovvins, so they decided to make the most of his housing accommodation while he was gone and returned there when their run concluded. They had both just about cooled down, and exchanged the appropriate coy pleasantries that let each other know they were both inclined to some late evening coupling before settling down, when there was a knock at the door.

They both looked at each other quizzically. Abigail tossed her towel onto the island leading to the kitchen, and opened the door. “You? What do you want, freebirth?”

Fiona glanced over Abigail’s shoulder to find Star Commander Abner, dressed casually and out of uniform, at the door. He smiled. “Well, I was thinking of taking up a hobby in my old age, and I thought arm wrestling might be a suitable one to try, and the more I thought about it, well who better to learn arm wrestling from than a gene-spliced mountain of muscle.  Fancy meeting you two ladies here. Where is the big guy, anyway?”

Abigail frowned and  put her hands on her hips. “Lovvins is not here. Go away, freebirth.”

He barged his way in, and Fiona was not entirely sure that Abigail was not going to attack him. “Well, it’s probably for the best, you two are better conversation anyway. Look, I brought a bottle of booze, and I know at least one of you likes booze, so why don’t we sit and drink and talk for a while. You guys can even get dressed if you want. What were you doing, running at this hour? I must be getting too old.”

He placed the bottle he brought on the table and sat back casually in one of the chairs. Both women stood speechless, their hands on their hips, staring at him. Finally, Fiona broke the silence. “Okay, I’ll grab glasses.”

She retrieved three tumblers and returned, placing the glasses on the table by the bottle and taking a seat, leaving Abigail the only one standing. Abigail showed no signs of backing down. “Why are you here, freebirth? If you do not give me a legitimate answer I will throw you out in the street right now.”

He sat blankly for a moment before reacting. “Alright. I don’t suppose you’ll believe I just wanted to come congratulate the kid on her hard won victory?” He turned to Fiona. “That was a nice win, kid, although I don’t quite think the swarm-LRM tactic is one you should try again if you ever face yourself in a trial like that.”

She leaned forward. “That was not by design, I assure you.”

He thought for a minute. “I suspected as much. Which gets to the reason of my being here. Will you sit down, Miss Trueborn? I’m kind of nervous with you standing there all scary, on account of the fact that the last time I tried to help our girl here out, you decked me for my troubles.”

Abigail made no sign of moving, but Fiona took her hand and coaxed her to a seat. “She was just looking out for me. You were an unknown to her at the time.”

“He is still an unknown. I do not trust him, surat.”

He poured three glasses of the green liquor. “With pet names like that, I bet the coupling is fantastic.”

They both simultaneously shot him glares that could kill. He leaned back, his arms raised. “Hey, I just call them how I see them. Trying to break the ice and all. How about we all have a drink?"

     Abigail was still not budging. Fiona stepped in again. "You do not have to trust him yet, Abigail. But for now, I do." She took a swig of the almost sickly sweet drink. 

     Abner followed by taking a drink himself. He then raised his glass to Abigail. "How about a truce then, Miss Trueborn?"

     Abigail snatched the glass up and somehow managed to not spill any as she forcefully took a sip. "I will not throw you out yet, freebirth."

     Abner grinned. "That's a start. Anyhow, congratulations aside and all that, I'm going to assume that you guys never bothered to check out who your opponents were in that trial, what with all your celebrating, quiaff?"

     Fiona nodded. "Aff. I never gave it much thought. I knew beforehand that it was probably three freeborn, but they were not mentioned by name."

     He nodded. "Well that's right, you don't get to know beforehand, but afterwards, it's on record with the loremaster or whoever is acting as the oathmaster for the trial."

     Fiona downed another swing of the sweet green drink. "It makes no real difference. I do not know any freeborn warriors other than you."

     He looked at his glass before downing the remainder in one large gulp. "Well I'm not saying you know any as intimately and on such endearing terms as me, but you're wrong about that point. There's one freeborn warrior that you introduced multiple times to your fists, and I'd say he remembered the introduction quite well."

     She thought back and remembered the bar room brawl and the young blonde warrior she had attacked. "I never got his name."

     "His name is Kraig, and he is basically a fresh out of training hotshot, or as much of a hotshot as you can be as a freeborn. Seems to have a knack for making friends and has gathered something of a following among these know-nothing eyases."

     Fiona shrugged. "So he is the homecoming king. Big deal."

     Abner smirked. "I don't know what that means, but the big deal is that he pulled some kind of strings and ended up with himself assigned to pilot the 

 you fought out there. He’s the one who’s cockpit you caved in and damn near turned him into mush.”

Abigail leapt at the news. “Ha, leave it to a freebirth to use dishonorable means for petty revenge.”

Abner frowned. “Conveniently forgetting that your girl here is a freeborn, too.”

Abigail hissed “That is not what I meant and you know it, old man!”

Fiona jumped in the middle of the argument once again. “No, wait. Abner, I do not care about that, and Abigail, you are missing the point.

Abigail stopped and shook her head in confusion. “What am I missing, surat?”

Fiona glanced at Abner and he cocked his head knowingly. “Abner is onto something, Abigail. Think about it. By the rules of the trial, the 

 should have been my final opponent. Now, I may be cocky, but I am realistic enough to admit that the chances of me ever even getting to the point of fighting with the 

 were really small. Now think, if this Kraig guy wanted revenge on me, his odds of even getting a single shot at me were virtually nothing.”

Abner chimed in then, “Unless he somehow knew that the whole thing would turn into a melee, and in that case, he would have you at three-to-one odds and be piloting the biggest machine on the field. Kind of funny he knew you would be using swarm rounds when you didn’t seem to know that little fact, isn't it?

At that point, Abigail grabbed the bottle and poured herself another glass, taking a swig immediately. “You are suggesting sabotage, quiaff?”

Abner nodded. “You’ll never prove it now, but yeah, that’s what I’m suggesting.”

Abigail finally sat down again. “What are we to do about this treachery?”

Abner shrugged. “Nothing you can do now. But the point is, an enemy has been made, one you should look out for.” He stood up and flexed his joints in an exaggerated manner. “I best be going. Night doesn't treat too kindly to us old folks. You girls can keep the bottle.”

Surprisingly, Abigail walked him to the door. “Thank you for this information.  I may have been too enthusiastic about going after you earlier, I rushed to judgement, and I regret that, freebirth.”

He smiled thoughtfully. “That’s ok, I knew you would.”

Abigail turned to Fiona. “May I hit him?”

Fiona walked over to them and smiled. “No, you may not. Now go, Abner, before I cannot talk her out of it.” She squeezed his shoulder gently. “Thank you again.”

With that, he was off, and they closed the door. Abigail spoke up first. “That freebirth is insufferable.”

Fiona shook her head and put her hands on Abigail’s shoulders. “He means well. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Abigail walked over to the table, poured herself another glass, and walked towards the balcony. “I still do not trust him. What is his reason for hanging around so much. It is unnatural.”

Fiona followed her out onto the balcony but did not bring a drink of her own. Abigail was leaning on the railing, nursing her drink and Fiona slipped in behind her, running her hands gently over the sleek muscles of her back and shoulders. “I appreciate that you look out for me. But there are times you simply are going to have to trust me. This is one of them.”

“Trust like that does not come easily to me, surat. When you grow up a clan warrior, you see threats everywhere.” She stood up and let her back meet Fiona’s chest, and Fiona wrapped her arms loosely around the other woman’s waist.

“You do not see me as a threat, quineg?”

She shook her head. “No, but you are….different, surat.”

“I know, you spoke a little of it the other night, but you were vague. It was as if you are somehow bothered that we are friends.”

She could feel Abigail tense at the question. “It is... complicated, surat.”

She waited for Abigail to say more, but she showed no signs of doing so. After a moment, Fiona spun Abigail around to face her. “I know it is complicated. But I want to understand. I have an idea. Will you trust me?”

Abigail almost looked nervous. “What are you talking about?”

Fiona took a deep breath. “You have shown me much of your world and what it is like to be Clan. Let me try something from my world to help you share what you are thinking. Just trust me?”

After a long pause, Abigail gave her a firm nod. “Very well. Lead on, surat”

She took Abigail by the hand and led her back into the suite and into the bathroom. A wave of her hand turned on the lights revealing the large bathroom with a spacious sink, a functional shower, and a rather large tub. “I kind of poked around in here the other night. It is the sort of thing you do when you are raised as a well off girl in the Inner Sphere. You can make a lot of judgements about people from their bathrooms.”

Abigail looked incredulous. “You brought me here for the bathroom?”

Fiona smiled. “Trust me. Look, you clanners assign stuff based on need and utilitarianism, right? Now, Lovvins got a nice big suite because, well, he is big, but beyond that, because he is an Elemental here for an important trial, quiaff? So, one of the perks apparently is that they gave him this giant Elemental sized hot tub. Obviously it is for deep muscle relaxation and all that when you are involved in a lot of strenuous physical activity, like a lot of trials. But that does not stop it from being a killer hot tub.”

Abigail shook her head. “How is this supposed to help?”

Fiona adjusted the controls and the tub began to fill quickly with water. “Take it from a spoiled, rich, Inner Sphere noble, a great bath always helps. Do not argue, just trust me.” In a matter of minutes, the tub had filled, and she had adjusted the jets to a gentle current. “Now,get undressed, and get in.”

Abigail paused and gave her a discerning eye for a moment before stripping off her running shorts and bra and stepping into the tub. Fiona followed her and slid herself up against the edge and leaned back. She coaxed Abigail over so she was floating right up against her, Abigail’s back to Fiona’s chest. “Now, just close your eyes and relax for a few minutes. Do not think, do not do anything, just feel.”

After a few minutes, she was confident enough that she had felt enough tension ease out of Abigail to continue. “Now, you said our friendship was complicated. Explain.”

There was a pause, but the tension did not return, which she took as a good sign. “Our friendship….you are not like other freebirths.”

“Why not?”

Abigail sighed. “It is hard to explain. I am trueborn. It is not that I feel superior to freebirths, I simply am. It is not malice. It is fact. When I am with a freebirth, I simply know and accept that I am their superior. It is not a hatred, like some have, it simply is. It creates a kind of barrier.”

Rather than intervene with a question, she let Abigail work through the pause. “With you, I do not feel that way. Perhaps I did at first out of habit, but I have not for a long time. I may have paid the barrier lip service, but it has not existed between you and I in a long time.”

Fiona nodded gently. “Why is that a problem?”

She felt the clan woman tense next to her for a second, before relaxing. “Because it should be there. I am trueborn. You are freeborn. It is the way of things. That has been a fact of my life since the moment I can remember having thought. If that is not true, then what other things that I have accepted all my life are not true. It is a slope down which I do not care to slide.

Fiona finally thought she understood, at least on a basic level, what was bothering Abigail. She chose her words carefully. “I think I understand, at least a little. In some ways it is the same with me towards you. Reason says you should be a threat to me, I had my whole world shattered and you were the instrument intended to hammer me into a new very different world. It should have scared me. It did scare me on some level, but I do not think I was ever scared of you, if that makes sense. I always felt safe with you. Maybe that is just us. Maybe we are two people having our worlds challenged together and recognizing we can help each other through it. Does that make any kind of sense to you?”

Abigail nodded and leaned back gently slightly more into Fiona. “In a way. Thank you.” she paused for a moment. “Is this really how you spent your time in the Inner Sphere, surat? Lounging in hot tubs? It explains why you were such a frail wisp of a thing when we found you.”

Fiona chuckled. “Not all the time. I was a spoiled brat though, yes. I am fairly certain my father was mortified when he got the report of my getting busted in the hot tub with a female upperclassman at the Robinson Battle Academy.”

Abigail laughed softly. “Why would that bother him?”

Fiona sighed. “If you did not get the hint when you met him, my father is very traditionalist in all things. You do not get publicly caught doing anything untoward. You most certainly do not do untoward things with another female, for fear it will ruin your value forever as a bridal trophy among the other upper crust traditionalists of New Ivaarsen or elsewhere in the Draconis March.”

Abigail replied quickly “I do not understand your notions of family, or why you would let yourself be concerned with the opinions of such shallow people. You have proven yourself strong and honorable. I would assume a genefather would take pride in that.”

“Neg, all his pride in his genes is focused on my brother Jackson. Jackson was never bad towards me, but he was always the focus of my parents affection and pride.”

“Your brother, he is also a warrior, quiaff?”

She sighed. “Aff. But more out of obligation than desire I think. He did what was expected of him. For all I know, he is somewhere along the border waiting to face us when we resume the invasion.”

“Would it please you to meet him in battle? You would defeat him, I have no doubt of that.”

She shook her head. “Neg, I would gain no pleasure in fighting him. No matter what our parents might have done, he is my brother and I love him.”

“None of my sibkin prevailed to become warriors other than me. There are several in the lower castes, obviously, but I have never had contact with them or cause to seek them out. You are closer to sibkin in reality than any of them, surat.”

Fiona smiled. “I believe I will take that as a compliment.”