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| ===Chapter 11 - ???===
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| After seeing Cecylia off near the main command, Kaede left the inner camp for one of the five major dining areas inside this army's tent city. Pascal had no excuse to squeeze her into the meeting today, especially with dozens of commanders already packed into the building. With time on her hands, Kaede decided to check up on Marina instead.
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| She felt the gazes of men follow her down the main road between battalion campgrounds. Most of them appeared simply curious: her pseudo-uniform was Weichsen enough, but her hair was clearly not that of a common human. However, some of the ogling stares took on a more perverse shade, sending a repugnant taste up her throat as though she could feel the dirty thoughts they projected upon her in their minds.
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| "Hey cutestuff, want to do something fun before the next battle kills us all?" jeered a drunken soldier when she passed too close to a devastated infantry battalion.
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| "Come on, you'll enjoy it! They don't call me Big Jonathan for nothing!" barked another. "I'll show you how it feels to make that midriff even firmer!" He finished before the entire group began laughing.
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| Unlike the regimented Weichsel forces, the Lotharin armies had no military police. Lesser nobles and their armigers took turns patrolling to maintain order with varying degrees of discipline. The female-only Knights Hospitallers were stricter in enforcing regulation, but there were too few of them to keep an eye everywhere.
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| Kaede could ignore the arrogant, downcast gazes of aristocrats with ease. But the uncouth heckles of these peasants shook her self-esteem in ways that made her feel dirty.
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| ''No wonder why most women walk about in flocks,'' she reflected, desperately wishing for a cloak to cover up her entire body.
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| Thankfully, her scurrying feet soon took her to a major assembly area, where several Hospitallers kept watch and harbored zero tolerance for harassment. In fact, they were keeping order over some sort of recruitment event, as lines of soldiers shuffled forward to sign their names at registration tables.
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| It didn't make any sense for Kaede: ''Volunteering? Drafting? But they're already soldiers.''
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| "Hey!" shouted one of the young logistics lieutenants at a registration booth in Lotharin. "Mister! You forgot your pay!"
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| Standing up from his chair, the officer rushed after the middle-aged soldier who just left his table. He soon caught the trooper by the shoulder and added:
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| "You forgot your bonus pay for signing up..."
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| "Don't need it," the man gruffed with a strong accent.
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| "Then at least leave us your family's contact information. We'll send it to them, and they'll be taken care of should you..."
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| "Should I die in the Forlorn Hope?" he looked back with a tired, expectant smile. "That's what I'm counting on."
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| A hushing silence rippled outwards from those words, soon halting most of the recruitment center.
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| Cold shivers traversed up Kaede's spine as the auto-translation worked its magic. The 'Forlorn Hope' was a Dutch concept that originally meant 'lost troop'. They were essentially volunteer suicide units tasked with extremely low survivability missions, such as the first wave in assaulting a fortress.
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| In other words, the hundreds of men lined up in this clearing were waiting for their turn to sign their life away.
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| "But don't you want your family..."
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| The young lieutenant's voice faded away as he looked into the older man's gaze.
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| Kaede could almost see the hollowed, lifeless sight that reflected off the officer's startled eyes.
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| "My family are all in Heaven..." the aging soldier uttered. "My wife, my mother, my children... they all died when those demon-worshipers bombarded my town and destroyed my home."
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| The brief silence that followed was stifling. Nobody could speak a word; nobody except those with similar sentiments as they joined in: "me too."
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| "All I want is to rejoin them," the soldier added as he re-grasped his voulge from a lower spot on its handle. "And if I kill a few damned heathens before I meet the Holy Father, then all the better."
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| "Then place your trust in the Holy Father," a serene voice answered.
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| "Lady Estelle..."
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| Kaede heard the reverberating murmur echo through the crowd. She saw the heads of devout soldiers bowing in reverence. Every eye among hundreds soon fell upon the newcomer -- a lady flanked by Hospitallers, with an azure phoenix perched upon her shoulders.
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| Kaede had alway thought of Ariadne's appearance as 'angelic'; but if so, then Edith-Estellise was nothing less than a goddess.
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| The Saint and Oriflamme stepped across the open ground as though gliding gracefully through tranquil air. Her soft, wavy blond hair grazed just past narrow shoulders as they billowed in the gentle breeze. A benign, Mona Lisa smile permeates the air in serenity. But the most prominent of them all was her tender gaze, promising truth and eternity through alluring irises of lapiz and wisteria.
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| Standing at a height of one-seventy-four (5'8"), Lady Estelle's lean stature stood proud but not imposing. Her battledress contrasted the white fabric over her endowed chest to black-bordered midnight-blue. It extended past her narrow waist belt and down a wide skirt to just above plated knees. The rest of her body remain unarmored, though bands of soft leather embraced her waist, chest, arms, and shoulders, ready to strap on protective steel.
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| It wasn't until later when Kaede discovered that the battledress was a gift from Emperor Geoffroi, hence the design similarities to the Princess' own wardrobe. After all, nuns who took knightly vows weren't supposed to be any richer, and Edith still wore a half-veil draped behind the ears, bearing the white cross on black background of the Hospitallers.
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| "Weep for those whose presence we miss. Embrace our duty with fortitude and faith..."
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| Stopping before the middle-aged soldier, Edith-Estellise spoke in a voice that rang clear as the gospel:
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| "--But do not bring with you the essence of ruin. You family is waiting for you in eternity. Should you not meet them as the son, the husband, and the father you once were -- a loving heart clear of hatred?"
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| "Milady," the middle-aged man bowed in respect, only to be supported back up by the saint's own hand.
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| "Remember," Lady Estelle took his wrinkled hand and clasped it between her gentle fingers. "Our own merciful Savior prayed for his enemies as he completed the True Cross. He forgave those who betrayed and condemned him for teaching humankind the grace of magic. It is his example we aspire to -- our lives laid down to defend all that is Holy. But we shall do so without tainting our souls through wrath and hatred."
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| "Then..." a single tear dropped from the corner of his gaze. "Will I be able to see my family again with a clear conscience?"
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| "When your time has come, yes," the Saint's smile beamed like the gates of Heaven itself. "But do not embrace death too hastily. Perhaps the Holy Father sees even greater joys in your future; and when your live if fulfilled, your soul shall rest with your loved one for an eternity."
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| "Yes," the man squeezed his eyes shut. "Thank you, Milady."
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| Looking around the silence crowd of hundreds, perhaps even swelling to thousands, the Saint and Oriflamme addressed them all:
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| "Soldiers of Rhin-Lotharingie, I am proud to stand here before you! There is nothing ahead to fear, not when we uphold the virtues that the Lord has given us all!"
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| With a hand grasping the hilt by her waist, Lady Estelle pulls out Sword of Charity. Its pristine blade shined under the late afternoon sun as she raised it to the heavens.
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| "--When the time comes, it shall be my honor to stand beside you, first in line at the river crossings in defense of this land, this nation, and this people that we love above all! Take heart that even should any of us fall, we shall depart for eternity with a life fulfilled! But until then, ''fight''! Not only for victory, but for a better future, a better world!"
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| Anne: "nice speech, but now we are ''really late'' for the meeting."
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| Estelle: "His Grace will just have to forgive me then; it was for a good cause."
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| Marina: "don't get all starry-eyed yet; you should hear what I've got to tell you"
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| (Marina tells Kaede about the officers' behavior)
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| Kaede: "''Saint Estelle'' is planning on backstabbing the Princess with a coup?"
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| Marina: "Makes you wonder how 'saintly' she really is, doesn't it?"
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