[Mkguild] A Life Under the Moon II

[Jack Moore]

AN: Part two please give thoughts. I'm not confident in this.

Trust - II

"Eleven counts of mean justice and three of low justice." I recounted to my
sergeant. Tibble scratched away in his ledger. "Busy day."
"Very Corporal." Tibble said, scratching away. My mind drifted while he
wrote, I focused on the flickering of his candle. The flame flicked back
and forth, the dull orange light consumed my field of vision.
"Janelle? Are you listening?" The voice echoed from the recesses of my
mind. I let it wash away the office, my sergeant, my upcoming meeting.
Instead I was back outside. I was young again, tightly bundled against the
cold air. The fire was pitiful and barely warmed me. But I didn't mind.
"Of course I'm listening to you." I smiled, "Why wouldn't I be?" Mr. Sotto
nodded at this.
"You seemed to space out is all Janelle." He fingered his wooden flute that
he always carried. "I want you to relax but not so you fall into the fire."
"I'm not that tired." I pulled my cloak a little tighter. "Just...never
thought I'd be here..."
"Camping outside with a man ten years your senior?" I shrugged. "Life is
full of surprises Janelle, I can tell you that." I felt him brushing
against my mind and I Snapped him out. "Very good."
"Do you have to do that?" I laughed. "Come on, we're tired, let's not mess
with our brains for a few minutes!" Mr. Sotto blew into his flute, sending
a piercing note through my skull.
"Janelle the point of our training is to strengthen your natural talents."
"You told me to relax!" I said.
"Do you think you will never be attacked when you are relaxed?" Good point.
Sotto resumed playing his flute, this time actually playing instead of just
blowing. I hummed along with it.
I'd live in this moment if I could. Above me the moon was full, cold white
and bathing us in pale light. I can't...
"Our training will not last much longer." Sotto said. "I brought you to
join the Loonies to teach you how to use your powers. But you're nearing
the limits of even my abilities Janelle."
"That doesn't seem possible sir." My hands slipped out to tug on my long
braid of red hair. "I mean...you're so strong..."
"Corporal?" The memory shattered and I snapped to attention. Tibble cocked
his head. "I seemed to lose you for a second there."
"I'm sorry sir." I said. "Just my mind is elsewhere. Tomorrow is my day
off." Tibble nodded. "I plan to spend it with my son."  He nodded again,
then made a note in another book.
"I'm marking you as a last priority to call in, just in case they need to
call you in tomorrow." Tibble smiled. "Enjoy the day with your son
Corporal."
"I will sir." Tibble closed the book and stuck his quill in the inkwell.
"Now the Lieutenant is waiting for you." I didn't make a move to leave.
"I'm telling you, there's nothing to worry about. He's asking to meet with
all Corporals on active duty."
"I'm not worried sir." My voice quivered for a second but I recovered. "I
would like to get this meeting over, though." Tibble nodded.
"Well our Lieutenant is waiting for you, dismissed." I gave him a finally
nod and then mounted the stairs.
The second floor of the Watch House was reached by one narrow wooden
stairway. It was dusky, unlit and always dark no matter what time of day.
At the top was a heavy wooden door that opened into a badly cramped hallway.
The hallways had nine doors, four on both sides and one at the end. The
first eight doors were offices, record rooms, and a room for Wardens on the
night shift to grab rest. The door at the end was the one holding my
attention, the Lieutenant's office.
I tapped once on the heavy oak. The door muffled all sounds but a second
later I heard a voice: "Come in." I swallowed and pulled the door open.
"Corporal Janelle reporting, sir." I took my place in front of the heavy
wooden desk. Behind it sat a narrow and bleary-eyed opossum man. He had a
narrow face and crooked teeth, left bottom fang. His great coat was green
with white trimmings, the sign of his rank as a Lieutenant.

His claws were chipped and his hands had ink stains on them. I could hear
his tail scrapping along the floor, probably curling and uncurling. Upon
seeing me his ears flopped foreword and his muzzle swung up into a smile.
"Ah, good to see you Janelle, come on in." He gestured at the only chair in
front of his desk and I took it. Unlike Tibble, the Lieutenant's desk was
clean and organized. He had one ledger in the center, one lit candle on the
right corner with no dripping wax. His three quills were lined up in a row
without a single stray ink dot.
The building was a series of oak panels that always felt stuffy to me, each
one cleaned and polished to perfection. Candles along the side walls gave
the room a flicker that bathed everything in shadow.
Behind my Lieutenant was a cold and unlit stone fireplace. Two windows,
both with the curtains drawn to add to the stuffiness, framed it. There
were no shelves, no boxes, no places to put files. This was the office of a
leader, a man in absolute control.
A Lieutenant runs every Watch House. Mine was run by an opossum Lieutenant
named Triche. I met Triche a couple of times before this, once before I had
even become a sailfin lizard. It had been his prompting that got me to look
at and eventually join the Watch.
Despite this I didn't really know the man. The Lieutenant spent all his
time locked in the office; I had seen him three times at most since joining
the Watch. Now as I sat in the stool anxiety clawed at my stomach. My body
remained still and never showed a tremor.
You can never let people see fear.
Triche's eyes studied me. He tapped his fingers and leaned back in his
chair. Thank you Eli for giving me a stool to sit on instead of jamming my
tail through. My tail thumped against the ground.
"Relax Corporal."
"I am relaxed sir."
"You're a bad liar Janelle." Triche said. "But I'm not here to judge you on
your capabilities as a liar."
"What are you here to judge me on sir?" He tapped his fingers and his black
eyes never left my face.
"How would you feel about a promotion to Sergeant?" All blood drained from
my head. If it weren't for the stool I would have fallen over. "Something
wrong Janelle?"
"That's...one way to begin a conversation sir." Triche laughed.
"You're very frank, I appreciate that." He flipped open the ledger on his
desk. "You have also twice been given accommodations for your conduct, you
have been thorough on your patrols and when assigned investigations you
have an above average clearance rate."
"You have all of that in there?" I asked.
"I keep information on all my subordinates." Triche said. "And you more so
than most others. Janelle you were promoted within two years of joining the
Watch. And you would have most likely been promoted again had there been an
opening before now." I nodded.
"And there is an opening now?" I asked.
"There is about to be." Triche said. "Our Sergeant Whitney, one of our
investigators, is preparing to leave the Keep and the Watch. When he does
so, the position will be open."
"It will be..." I swallowed. "That's...that is...I'm at a loss for words
sir." Triche nodded and shut his ledger.
"Do you know what is needed for a promotion to Sergeant?" Of course I did,
I had gone over it several times already in my head.
"An accommodation, a recommendation from a superior and passing the
Sergeant's exam."
"Very good Corporal Janelle." Triche said. "I'm asking all Corporals who
have received an accommodation up here to find out who is interested in
being promoted."
"Who wouldn't be sir?"
"More than you think." Lieutenant Triche said. "I take it though you won't
be one to refuse it?" I nodded. "I suspected as much. I asked you up here
to see if you were interested and to schedule an interview Janelle."
"Yes sir."
"I will be interviewing every Corporal who agreed." Triche said. "The one
who I feel is the most qualified will get my recommendation to take the
Sergeant's exam." I swallowed and nodded.
"I am...I am very interested in this sir." My mouth had gone bone dry. "I'd
like to receive your recommendation."
"And you will get your chance." Triche said. "Janelle, I said I could find
a Corporal from this Watch House to promote, that you all are the best in
Metamor. Do you know what I think of the current justice system?" I shook
my head.

"I don't think it works. Mean justice, low justice and high justice? No,
justice is universal!" He slammed his fists down on the desk to accentuate
the point. "I believe this Corporal and I want it to change. What do you
think Corporal, do we need change?"
"I know it sir." Triche nodded again.

"Well then, dismissed Corporal." He smiled, "You'll do great." I forced a
smile and turned around.
As soon as the door shut I braced the wall. My legs wanted to buckle but I
kept myself standing. The hallway, already to small, felt like it was about
to crush me. I forced myself down the hall, the stairs and out of the Watch
House.
"Sergeant Janelle." I whispered it to myself as I began the slow walk
toward Gregor's bakery. "Sergeant I'm going to...I'm...Did I agree to try?"
I stumbled to a stop. "I forgot to Tap his mind." Anxiety had made me
forget.
"I want to train that bull." My tail thumped against the ground. "I need to
raise Kaysar to be a good man. I need to be a mother to my son and a mentor
and how on Earth...stop." I stood up straight.
"You will be professional. You are doing a job; you will not let your fear
consume you." I resumed my march but every step was now labored.

When I made it to Gregor's the three twits were hard at work polishing and
cleaning. Despite this there was still a level of flour on everything.
"How did you get flour on the ceiling?" I asked, looking up. Tamir mumbled
a profanity to me in response. "Glad to hear it." I wiped some flour off of
my tabard and from the palm of my hand.
"Warden Janelle?" The backroom of the bakery opened, sending up a white
cloud. The capybara emerged, a smile on his face and all the flour cleaned
out of his tan fur. His apron looked much cleaner than I had last seen it,
still streaked but at least not coated in dust.
"I wanted to thank you for the help in cleaning my shop." Gregor said, his
eyes lighting up. "Today I was all by myself."
"No doubt why those idiots chose to attack you." I said. All three diverted
their eyes to the tile floor they were trying to make shine. "Now about
that fresh bread."
"I was already baking today but these three interrupted that." Gregor said.
"But for a member of our Watch, I could bake something fresh. Is their
anything else you wanted besides bread?" I crossed my arms.
"I'm...not sure. What's good for a picnic? Aside from the obvious?"
"I have fresh cinnamon rolls."
"Never been much of one for sweets. They don't fill you as well as bread."
I shrugged. Gregor scratched his whiskered muzzle.
"May I ask who is going with you on this picnic? Someone special?"
"Yes. My son."
"Ah!" Gregor strolled into his backroom. Before I could protest he returned
with two cinnamon rolls. "Please, take these and the bread, I'll make it a
discount and I promise your son will love them."
"I'm not sure..." The two rolls probably smelled delicious. The problem was
that as a sailfin lizard I had almost no sense of smell. To me they looked
like sticky messes I'd spend an hour washing out of Kaysar's fur.
"Please." The baker was insistent and now I was curious how they tasted
myself. Kaysar would love one. One sweet roll won't make him fat. The
thought of my son's smile finally convinced me.
"It's going to be a special occasion, why not? Wrap them up with the bread,
I'll take both." Gregor's face lit up in such a way, I almost immediately
felt better.
One of the reason's I joined the Watch was to make people happy. Generally
through protecting them but if I could do it in another way I would. When I
became Justicar I'd have to remember moments like this.
"I hope you love them Janelle, in fact I'm sure you will." Gregor said.
"And please, come in any time, you're always welcome."
"Thank you baker Gregor." I gave the idiots one last glance before heading
outside.
Now the sun hung low and I had baked goods for tomorrow. Kaysar was waiting
for me, so my thoughts about the day vanished as I took off for home.
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