At the sound of his name, Ber looked up from where he was comparing the wear and tear on two wooden training swords to find Sliva approaching. A glance back down had him returning both to their proper locations on the rack he’d been tasked with inventorying and tidying up before he turned to face the witch with a sigh. Crossing his arms, he stood there as she told him that they apparently had a task to do and did not follow when she began to leave, clearly expecting him to trail after her like she was Woodwick. Unfortunately for her, she was not, and as far as he knew, he had orders from a different officer to follow.

Namely finishing up this rack and then moving on to the next one.

“Okay,” He said, unmoved. The demotion to staff duty meant that his life had been a never-ending series of tasks since the ball. Whatever she had come to announce was nothing special. “What’s the task?”

Right. She was told to pick any soldier with whom she would go investigate some situation, and she expected him to just follow along like a lost dog? As far as the military and chain of command was concerned, Sliva was like him: at the bottom. They were equals. Because she had no authority over him, not only did he not have to listen to her, but the orders he’d received from an actual officer superseded her requests.

“Well, as you can see, Sliva,” He said, half turning away to gesture to the rack beside him. “I’m already busy. Go find someone who isn’t doing anything to help you with your assignment.”

Investigating situations was something soldiers did as a part of their normal duties. Ones like him, who had been remanded to staff duty, played supporting roles and completed the menial chores that allowed the rest of the military to function to its full capacity. It was no longer his job to deal with the problems that plagued Skia.

Ber shrugged. “Not as much as these racks need me,” He said, crossing his arms again. “Sorry, Sliva.” It wasn’t about personal feelings, though she wasn’t wrong: he did not want to spend time with her. “You can tell me to go with you all you want, but until you become an officer, what you ask me to do is always going to be second to what they order me to do.” His tone was matter of fact as he turned away. “Like I said, go find someone who is actually free to help you.”

He was already on thin ice. Ber was not about to march off into the city with Sliva only to have the staff duty officer walk into the room five minutes later to find him absent and shirking his own duties to help the witch with hers.