Although Warren had been aware of Abbott's intention to dismiss Rhedara from service, he had no idea when or how the now Lieutenant planned to do it. He hadn't yet spoken to Aldrich personally. Eventually the two would have to discuss a few things, including what had happened at the ball. Warren was a difficult person to embarrass, but he'd embarrassed himself thoroughly. Even if Kasper Van Zant was right and the wine had been spiked with some kind of potion that had made a lot of people act somewhat out of character, it didn't mean he didn't have to take responsibility for his actions. Neither he nor Aldrich had mentioned it during their meeting with Hadrian, and he was glad for that.

A lot of soldiers were showing up with questions and concerns about the announcement Hadrian had made, but there was little Warren could do or say to them to assure them. Jasper had been so tired of going in and out of the office that he'd even sat up a makeshift desk (two chairs) just outside of Warren's office. It was he Rhedara would see as she approached, the young man sitting in one chair and leaning over to write on the seat of another. "Oh, of course," Jasper said, seemingly a little out of breath. "The last one just left. Come on."

The young, skinny noble boy stood and reached for the door, walking on through. "Captain, another soldier is here to speak with you."

Warren didn't look up immediately. His eyes were downcast as he filled out information on a piece of parchment, but he waved his hand forward and Jasper moved aside, allowing Rhedara in. "Go ahead and take a seat, miss." Jasper would say, and close the door behind her. Warren took another moment to finish what he was doing, then sat his pen down.

"How can I--" he paused when his eyes fell on the girl, blinking a couple of times. "Ms. Shannon, I presume you are here because you have spoken with Lieutenant Abbott?"

Nodding at the skinny assistant, she tried not to fidget as she waited for Jasper to finally let her into Woodwick’s office. She braced herself, allowing herself one more deep breath before entering the office. Cool and collected she again promised herself. She could not afford to be so agitated that she would be incoherent.

She perched on the edge of the seat when she was bid to do so, back ramrod straight. She had her hands folded in her lap more to keep them still than anything else. Woodwick didn’t take long to complete his task, but to her, it felt like hours. When he finally saw her, she took note of the blinking, and interpreted it as surprise. Apparently he’d expected her gone, too.

“Yes sir, that’s why I’m here…I didn’t do it,” she bit her lip with a wince. That wasn’t how she’d planned on starting this meeting. She was only glad her voice didn’t come out as a squeak. Maybe she needed another breath, “What I meant to say was, I would like to to file a formal petition of redress of grievances. I did not curse Lieutenant Abbott a second time.”

Warren could sympathize with the young woman before him. After they'd helped the old lady with her carriage stuck in the mud, he'd thought of her as a fine soldier. When he heard about the curse she'd laid on Abbott, Warren had even smirked to himself. The man was needlessly harsh to the soldiers whose exercises he ran. Though the whole story hadn't been told (surely), Warren could imagine that Abbott had likely done something unnecessarily mean-spirited to the soldiers in order to have Rhedara act as she had. Humiliation was not the best teacher, Warren himself had learned that the hard way.

However, the job got done and as long as it did, there was little Warren could do or say against the man. You didn't have to like someone to work with them, and ultimately it was neither Aldrich or Warren's say so that had condemned the young woman.

"The second curse, in truth, was of little concern," Warren told her, the sympathy in his voice clear despite his usual serious demeanor. "And I'm afraid no petition of redress will help you, Ms. Shannon. Lieutenant Abbott brought the matter up to the Captain Commander and he felt you should have been dismissed after the first curse."

Rhedara felt as if the captain had handed her a large rock and kicked her into the ocean. With that last sentence, her whole argument was gone. There wasn’t much that could be done when the dismissal came from the captain commander. Still, a part of her wondered if there wasn’t a way to sew some seeds for reenlistment…or discord. She greatly admired Captain Woodwick. He was a man of principle and high standards and it had inspired her to raise her own standards. Did she have it in herself to sway him one way or the other?

“I see,” she worked really hard to keep looking him in the eye and not at her hands which had balled into tight, shaky fists. She focused on the stinging bite of her nails as they nearly broke the skin instead of how her pulse was jumping around, “Lieutenant Abbott did not tell me that. He indicated that my dismissal was due to the second curse I allegedly cast.”

She bit her lip again. It was a hopeless cause, but pure tenacity had her speaking again, “I know it won’t make a difference, but…he was going to have Mr Mosse sit on Miss Sliva. I know there’s a point to most of the things that go on during training, but why have a man the size of a bear sit on someone as small as Miss Sliva? He had Mr. Stormcrest sit on me, and I nearly lost some teeth when my face hit the ground…I know worse things happen during war, but training shouldn’t maim the soldiers, should it?” She swallowed, “I know it doesn’t excuse cursing him. I lost my temper once. I regretted it as soon as I did it. I even gave myself up instead of letting everyone else take the fall. Does this mean I should have let everyone else take the fall and just stayed quiet like a coward?” She paused long enough to look at her hands and forced the fingers to open, “Is there really no way that I can redeem myself? You yourself told me that curses were under utilized, and it came to me as a reaction to being struck…by the ground, but,” she shook her head, “I had a willingness to use it as a reaction. Isn’t there a way that could be used?” She didn’t want to be kicked out because she cursed her superior officer to cluck like a chicken. Not without first reaching for any straw she could get a hold of.

"Lieutenant Abbott did propose your dismissal because of the second curse," Warren confirmed. "Had he not believed that you had done it a second time, I do not think it would have even been brought up. Regardless of whether or not you carried out the second curse, though, it was the first that condemned you in the eyes of the Commander." Warren wasn't sure that Hadrian would have agreed to her dismissal before the events of the ball. He was lenient and kind-hearted, and allowing superior officers such as Abbott or Warren himself to handle the situations as they saw fit was normal for him. But the ball had changed that.

Warren held her gaze easily, listening to the young woman as she spoke of the reason she had cast the first curse. He couldn't, or wouldn't, say that he blamed her. Warren had learned that lesson from a very young age. He had no idea if Aldrich had sisters or not, but Warren had two, and if he had even thought of humiliating them, he would have been cursed for weeks. And probably with something much more uncomfortable than clucking.

Now that he had a first account of the way that Aldrich had trained the soldiers, he had a solid reason to speak to the man about it. Though he had been promoted and would no longer be a drill instructor, he didn't want the man to go around encouraging other drill instructors to act as he did and now that Warren was Captain, he had the power to do something about it. "I still believe that curses are under-utilized, and I sympathize with the fact that you made a mistake. However, I do recall you telling me that whilst in training, you also cursed one of your peers. While you may be able to deny the second curse against Lieutenant Abbott, you cannot deny that."

He let out a sigh, his hands lifting from his desk in mild gestures as he spoke. "At the ball, one of our own witches turned against us. It is a terrible thing to believe that you cannot trust those closest to you, those who are meant to fight beside you, not against you. A soldier who cannot control her temper is a soldier that is hard to trust, and trust is very important when power dynamics are at play. I would have been happy to work with you on this before, but given recent events, we simply can no longer afford the risk. For those reasons, I must side with Commander Usher and Lieutenant Abbott."

He pulled his hands into his lap, leaning back in his chair. "I know it is not what you want to hear, but I believe it is for the best. The problem with allowing your magic to be reactionary is that it lacks discipline. It may be useful when you know for certain that you are surrounded by enemies, but that will rarely occur. The battlefield is chaos in and of itself. You will be surrounded by both friend and foe, and if you do not take the time to differentiate, you would be doing us more harm than good."

He'd already gone on enough, and he was sure she was tired of hearing him lecture her, but he wanted her to understand that, for him at least, this decision was not being taken lightly. "That said, you are still very young, Ms. Shannon. The war will come and go, and many of us will die. People will need to enlist to build up our numbers again once it's over. I believe that, if you still wish to be a soldier when that time comes, you will be able to apply for re-enlistment as long as you have shown growth. Perhaps you can train with a retired soldier, or find someone among the nobility to sponsor you. If I am still here at that time, I would be happy to recommend you if I feel that you've gained the necessary discipline. However as for now, short of somehow convincing King Rainecourt himself, I'm afraid there is no reversing this decision."

She could have kicked herself. Why in Terra Nova had she told him that? She really needed to take a queue from Stormcrest and learn to keep her big mouth shut. Not that holding her silence would have helped her in this case. She wanted to explain it away, she’d just turned sixteen, she’d just shrouded her family at the time, but she didn’t. The reason didn’t matter because the result was the same. She’d lost her temper back then like she did for the very curse that screwed her over. She nearly swore, but the thought that Woodwick would make her polish 30 pairs of boots before leaving even though she’d been discharged kept her reply to a polite, “No, I can’t deny that.”

Mention of the witch that had started all the changes had Rhedara clenching her jaw. If she knew who the witch was, she’d put a nasty curse on her even if it would only prove the point that she couldn’t control herself. Whatever the witch had planned to do by changing a man into a wolf, it had resulted in uprooting everything she’d known and that was unforgivable in her eyes. She’d worked hard, damn it…and all over her petty vengeance, “I understand,” and she did even as she wanted to throw herself on the floor and kick and scream in denial. He’d probably pick her up and toss her out the nearest window if she did that.

At lease he didn’t seem to think that she was a complete monster for what she’d done…Abbott certainly treated her like she was one. It was as if the man had never been cursed during his time as a drill instructor. She wished that she’d been put under him as the punishment for cursing Abbott. It sounded as if he would have helped her beat down her temper where Abbott only ignited it even more.

Woodwick didn’t know it, but he’d gained her eternal loyalty just for the little glimmer of hope he’d given her. She hadn’t expected that he would recommend her since he’d agreed she should be booted for what she’d done, “You would?” the backs of her eyes felt hot and she looked in her lap and blinked until she knew that she wasn’t about to cry. Self control. They would have been tears of relief or even gratitude, but crying in front of a superior officer, even if she were no longer a part of the military, would not do. She looked back up, “Thank you, sir. I’m going to do my best then to exceed your expectations then,” she’d never done anything by half, and she’d not do anything less this time either.

His dark brown eyes lingered over her, watching her reactions. He couldn't deny that, from time to time, some of the soldiers reminded him of his son. Rhedara seemed more mature than Will had been at that age, but then, girls often matured faster than boys did. "That you're willing to take responsibility for your actions, and have come here to address the issue rather than giving up, is proof enough to me that you have the necessary potential."

Her promise to work hard to exceed his expectations, though, made him wonder if he should have promised to recommend her. Would she feel discouraged if he didn't make it back from the war? "Set expectations for yourself and exceed them. Do not do it for me, or for the Commander, or anyone else. Do it for you. Set an attainable goal, reach it, and set the next. If you do that, you cannot fail. In the mean time, I would keep up with the routines you've learned in your training."

With little more advice to give her, he held his hands out. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Ms. Shannon?"