“Evans! How did it go?”

“Twins.”

“What?”

“I have three children now.”

“Ooh! Exciting! Names. What are their names?”

“Graham and Paul,” Evans smiled and continued, “The four of them are sleeping in the cottage right now.”

“I will have to come visit tonight. When they are awake.”

“Alright. Sounds like a plan. I’m sure she will love it.”

“And now back to the meeting?”

“Very well Demi.”

“So, Polly and I put together somewhat of an invite list based on what you and I have talked about earlier. Right now she is getting some pens and paper so we can do a rough design for the invitation. I have someone that I have hired for the design, but we need to give them some designs for them to expand upon.”

“So what do you do for these invite things?”

“Well, the face of the invite should be my families coat of arms, surrounded by a field of daffodils. Which reminds me, I will need a few thousand daffodils for the ceremony, and my hair should be decorated with them. Also, I need a fake one made.”

“Why?”

“My birth flower. It is tradition that a Duke or Duchess wears the flower of their birth. For men, they just have to wear it in their lapel, but women have to wear it in their hair, which will include front line duties, which is why I want the fake one made, so I do not have to deal with fresh ones all the time. I will also be required to wear either a Turquoise Ring or Turquoise Necklace at all times. Turquoise is December’s birthstone, but it holds less symbolic value, so it will not be used for decoration.”

“Alright then. So what else on the card?”

Polly walked over, pulled up a seat and put down the paper and pens. Major Kestel picked up a pen and started tapping it for a moment, she looked at Evans and said, “What should the words on the inside say? I was thinking, ‘You are most cordially invited to the Coronation of the Major Demetria Kestel, Duchess Medway.’”

“Would the emphasis then be placed on your military rank? The ‘Major’ makes it sound like this is gonna be a military function.”

“How about ‘Her Grace, Demetria Kestel, the Duchess of Medway?’”

“I like that better. It sounds more regal.”

“Very Well. So what should we do for the interior design? I was thinking of just a single daffodil on the left face, and simple text on the right.”

Polly scribbled on a piece of paper and asked, “What about the guests name? And some sort of ‘and guest?’”

“What about people with children?” Evans smiled stupidly and said, “As the father of three, I wouldn’t want to leave my children out of this.”

Polly whacked him with her pen. “Shut up Evans.”

“He brings up a good point Polly.”

“Then just whatever their name is… and family?”

“Yes, but then someone is going to bring their third cousin.”

“You are welcomed to bring a significant other and children?” Evans said, “Then we cover married people, married people with children, and engaged people. Done.”

“Alright then,” Major Kestel looked to Polly, “You have all of that down Polly?”

“Yes Ma’am. What did you want for the cover?”

“Right, you were not here yet. The center should be my coat of arms and it should be surrounded by daffodils.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“And, we shall use my signet ring to seal all the envelopes. With purple wax. Have got to remember to use more purple.”

“Why Demi?”

“It is the color of a duchess or duke. I have to use it for my official letters now. Before I had to seal my letters with Blue. Blue is the color for anyone with the title of lord or lady.”

It was a beautiful morning. Evans walked to the center of Major Kestel’s castle’s garden and sat down at a table across from her, “Morning Demi.”

“Morning Jim.”

“Well, first off, what’s your guest list?”

Major Kestel picked up a list and started reading off of it, “Traditionally, I should invite all of Second Battalion Officers, All members of Fox Company, all 202nd staff officers, and all officers above me in the chain of command. I also should invite all nobility of nations we are not currently at war with. The Oligarchs also of course. Other officers to be invited are Captain Reilly from the 137th, Lieutenant Kelly from the 23rd Artillery, Captain Thompson of the 5th Intelligence, Captain Stoddart, Lieutenant Atkinson from the 351st. Captain Campbell, Commander Blair, and Lieutenant Commander Bain from the Indefatigable. Any officers from my Naval Infantry Battalion still alive. I would also like the crew of the Duchess Medway’s Own. Of those, my Honor Guard will be Captain Gates, Captain Reilly, Captain Thompson, and Lieutenant Kelly. And Jim, you will have to serve as my escort, which means you will have to select a team of eight, including you for a rifle salute. Do you have anyone in mind right now?”

“Yes Ma’am, Polly, Tiscornia, Newey, Ustinov, Turner,  and an Ensign Chambers from an Intelligence unit… Is it alright to have an officer in the team?”

“Yes, because, well, due to tradition the team will be named soldiers of Medway and be given traditional Medwayan ranks and uniforms. You will be Pike Sergeant Captain James Evans. So who is this Ensign Chambers?”

“Permission to speak stupidly Ma’am?”

“Yes Jim?”

“She was a runner in Fox before you came along. Every time we’ve met up since she’s asked if I could introduce her to you.”

“So why is she an officer?”

“I believe you mean how is she an officer?” Evans sat back in his chair, “Lucy was heavily wounded in my rescue of that Lieutenant. After all the surgeries, she was too weak to go back to frontline duties, but before they drummed her out, someone figured out that she spoke Vledscan and Moravian and transferred her to Intelligence. And apparently Translators are required to be officers in Intelligence, so she was given a promotion to Ensign and sent to a modified Officers’ Training School. Also, I’d like to have Lance Corporal Jack Shaw of the 351st. I believe he’s in Lieutenant Atkinson’s Platoon. He was my best friend from Halton.”

“I censor all of your letters Jim, I know who Jack is,” Major Kestel sighed, looked at her list, and looked back at Evans, saying, “But that list sounds good. You’ll need to get their sizes for the uniforms. And they will all be named Pike Corporals.”

“What about your Honor Guard Ma’am? Do they need special uniforms?”

“Yes, they’ll be named Knight Commanders of the Medwayan Army and given specially made armor,” Major Kestel giggled, then continued, “They have to wear fancy plate armor from hundreds of years ago. And your wife will not have to make those, we can hire a blacksmith. Unless Anna has some hidden metalworking talent you have not mentioned.”

“Not that I know of Demi. Though I do think some of her cousins are Puddlers back in Silesia. Maybe she picked up some from them.”

“EVANS EVANS EVANS EVANS” Polly ran shouting into the garden.

“What Polly?”

“Anna! She’s…” Polly bent over and took a few breaths before continuing, “Gone into Labor.”

Evans smiled, looked at Major Kestel, and said, “Permission to leave Demi?”

“Yes, go to your wife James.”

“Thank you.” Evans got up and followed Polly, who led him through the twisting corridors of the castle until they found the front gate.

“She’s in your cottage. A nurse and midwife are with her.”

Evans took off at full sprint, leaving the exhausted Polly behind to walk the rest of the way. It took him what seemed like an eternity to cover the distance. He arrived at the door and jiggled the handle. Stuck a bit. He picked up his right foot to kick in the door. As his foot came down, the door opened, and he hit the nurse square in the chest. The nurse fell backward and flailed his arms. Evans tumbled forward onto the nurse, taking both of them to the floor. The nurse muttered something under his breath and pointed to the master bedroom. Evans stood up, ran over, and opened the door.

“JAMES! JAMES! JAMES!” Anna waddled over to Evans and hugged him. Evans hugged back and kissed her.

Polly shouted “EWWWWW!!! KISSING!” at them.

Ignoring that, Evans queried Anna, “So, where’s Mary?”

“We have a dedicated babysitter,” Anna smiled, “I could get used to this lifestyle. And she’s with the babysitter now because little Mary had herself a little accident.”

“And how’s the little guy coming along?” Evans pointed to Anna’s belly.

“Almost here. Should be a few weeks,” She smiled and kissed him again.

“EWWWWWWWW!!!!!”

“And this is Polly, like I’ve mentioned in my letters,” Evans pointed back at Polly, who was now sticking her tongue out at Evans, “Polly, is a Medal of Ethslin Second Class winning soldier. She is also going to be Lady Halsey eventually so she should not be acting so immature.”

“Ann Stoddart?”

“YES!” Polly shouted down at them

“Why do you call her Polly?”

“Her last name was Pollard, so we call her Polly.”

“And it’s fucking stupid,” Polly frowned, “Even Winny calls me Polly and it’s his own damn fault that my last name isn’t Pollard.”

“Well you can’t be called Ann, that would be way too confusing,” Evans pointed to Anna, “She’s Anna, and it’s one letter off. I wouldn’t want to be calling her name, expecting someone beautiful to show up and then you come around. Would just be horrid. I might vomit.”

“Well I’m married to somewhat much more important than she is, so that must mean that I’m more beautiful than her.”

“Excuse me, I’m right here.”

“Yeah, shut up, you aren’t a part of this,” Polly looked back to Evans, “So you should be honored that I showed up instead of her.”

“You know, I was pregnant almost immediately after my marriage started, and I got pregnant again like as soon as possible. While you remain childless. So it doesn’t seem like your husband doesn’t enjoy your company”

“Well my marriage was a massive scandal. My husband was pretty much disowned because…”

“This is the worst conversation,” Major Kestel limped up to the three, “The government has standards of beauty laid out for this very reason. I am most beautiful, followed by Mrs. Stoddart, and then Mrs. Evans. Now, Jim, Polly, once you’ve settled in, I’d like you two to meet my mother. She’ll be the one running most of this whole thing. And Jim?”

“Yes… What am I supposed to call you now?”

“Your Grace, Duchess Medway, or just plain old Duchess. Once you are back in the military, you should go back to calling me Major. But as to what I wanted… Uh, I can’t exactly walk up stairs until the cast comes off. Could you… Lord this is the most undignified question, Carry me up the stairs. I don’t have any servant’s right now they’re all in the army.”

“Yes Your Grace, I shall carry you wherever you need and it will be my deepest honor.” Evans reached down to the Major.

“No not yet. I still have some dignity.”

Evans nodded, gave Anna a quick kiss, and walked with the Major to the stairs. She gestured. “Uh, you are wearing a dress. I would really not want to… “

“Just grab me around the waist and lift straight up… That should work?”

Evans grabbed her waist.

“Alright… That hurts,” the Major winced, “I was completely wrong.”

“Very sorry Your Grace,” Evans set her down at the top of the stairs.

“Please, Jim, you are my best friend. you can cut the whole Your Grace thing. In private. No one besides me can hear you call me Demi. I guess Anna is fine too. But besides her, no one. It was OK to be somewhat public about our friendship when I was just Lady Demetria, but I’m important now.”

“I just, kind of liked calling you ‘your grace’ or ‘duchess.’ It makes me feel all fancy and special.”

“Well, I feel fancy and special all the time. Because I am fancy and special. I’d like to feel normal. And you are exceedingly normal Jim.”

“You know, I’m a war hero, that’s not normal. I’ve got several medals.”

“You’re a farmer, you’ve got a wife, you’re from a small town. And I like how you usually don’t treat me special. It’s hard for me to get friends… and…” Major Kestel pointed at the next set of stairs, “We’re inside now. So you can just carry me normally.”

“Alright Demi. Here we go,” Evans put the Major onto his shoulders and carried her up the stairs.

Once they got to the top of the stairs, he started to lower the Major down. Her legs knocked into a glass, which fell to the ground and shattered.

“ARTILLERY! GET DOWN!” Sergeant Griffith shouted to the platoon as they stood along the wall for Stand To. A split second later, Evans heard the telltale whistle of inbound shells. He sprinted into the dugout. A few seconds after he dived in, the first shell hit. It was the loudest sound Evans had ever heard.

As the dirt clumps fell around him, Evans crawled towards Anna, who was huddled in the corner. He tried to yell something towards her. She shook her head while yelling something back.

“JAMES!”

Evans opened his eyes. Major Kestel was looking down on him. He stood up, “Sorry, I just tripped.”

“You dropped me, then yelled at me and called me Zwev.”

“Can I be honest with you for a moment?” Evans looked at his feet, “I keep seeing things. Like the war. It’s usually dreams, but it’s occasionally when… something happens. It’s worse when I’m not fighting.”

There was a pause.

“Yeah… Me too.”

“CONTACT FRONT!”

“FUCK!”

Evans dived to the side of the road and tried to track the tracer bullets back to the machine gun. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Lieutenant Stoddart was standing, frozen in fear, in the middle of the road. Without thinking, he dropped his shotgun and sprinted for the Lieutenant, watching the tracers slowly work there way towards the Lieutenant.

With a dive tackle, he knocked the Lieutenant behind an overturned cart. Evans patted down the Lieutenant and looked for wounds, “You’re OK sir.”

Sergeant Giardot ran up to the two of them behind the cart and ducked down, “Lieutenant, what are your orders? We’ve got wounded and we are pinned down.”

“Um… I…” Lieutenant Stoddart started to cry.

“Well Shit,” Sergeant Giardot poked her head up and looked around. She ducked back down and looked at Evans, “Evans, find Corporal Blake. If she’s dead or wounded, take her rifle and take out the machine guns. If she isn’t, ask her why the fuck she isn’t doing that already.”

“Yes Sergeant,” Evans looked around and tried to remember where Corporals Calepino and Blake had been. Usually they were in the back of the platoon right? He saw what looked like the Charles Rifle near a destroyed car. He took a deep breath in. As he exhaled he sprinted back to his shotgun and dived to the ground. Privates Delage and Hawke were hiding behind a pile of rubble nearby. He crawled closer to them and yelled towards them, “HEY! GUYS! I NEED RAPID FIRE COVER!”

The two nodded and poked their rifles out from cover and started firing. Evans waited for the gunfire to be attracted to what seemed to be a machine gun opening up. He then sprinted low towards the destroyed car.

He stumbled over himself on the way there. A sharp pain shot through his leg.

Evans woke himself up with a yelp of pain.

He was on the ship. The ship back to Ethslin. Evans was safe. Everything was…

“The hell was that?” Polly looked over at him from the other bed. She flipped the electric light on, “Now I’m all woken up.”

“Just had a nightmare,” Evans rolled over and closed his eyes.

“Oh no, you aren’t just waking me up and falling asleep,” Polly walked over and started poking the back of his head.

He started to turn around when she slapped him, “Don’t. I’m naked.”

“Why aren’t you dressed?”

“The dress is really uncomfortable for sleeping in.”

“Don’t you have a slip or something?”

“These sheets are also really nice and comfy.”

“Could you just get back under those sheets so I can talk to you.”

“Why? I hold all the power now.”

“What power exactly?”

“You can’t look anywhere but that wall. Loser.”

“I’m pretty sure Harvard would call this unladylike,” Evans paused, “Plus I saw you shirtless when I patched that stab wound.”

“And you did a really shitty job of it. So you haven’t seen me with the big scar. Plus I’m also not wearing pants.”

“I’m going to bed now you idiot,” Evans closed his eyes, “Thanks”

“For what?”

“Made me forget my shitty dreams.”

“With thoughts of my beautiful body?”

“I will reopen that fucking stab wound.”

“Ooh you can’t see me dancing around back here.” There was the patter of feet behind Evans followed by a thud.

Evans rolled over, “Are you…” Polly was lying on the floor wearing her slip, “I really fucking hate you.”

“But you looked. Your wife will be soooooo angry when she hears this.”

“You know I’ve killed people before. Many people. There’s a window right over there. I don’t think they’d ever find you. Lost at sea.”

“But would you hurt a woman?””

“You’re just lucky that we aren’t allowed weapons on this boat.”

“Ship.”

“Going to sleep now. Turn down that fucking lamp.”

This just felt weird. Evans was standing in a suit that probably cost more than everything he owned combined. He was standing next to Polly, who was wearing an equally expensive dress. And around them, the military was running around, doing their thing. The Ligurian ship was supposed to arrive today. It contained mail and journalists.

As part of an agreement in the beginning of the war, as long as Liguria remained neutral, neither nation would touch their transports. As part of their neutrality, Ligurian vessels  were not allowed to transport military related items. They were, however, allowed to ship civilians, mail, and a wealth of products that might otherwise be unavailable. To keep things neutral, Liguria consented to having a Vledscan officer and an Ethslin Officer assigned to each ship that went to either country to inspect the cargo. Occasionally, Military officers such as Colonel Harvard were allowed to take a trip, as long as they were accompanied by a Ligurian representative in some fashion. In Harvard’s case, there was a man who sat in the front of the truck, spending his time reading books.

And, since Evans and Polly were now civilians, they were allowed onboard. Or at least they would be, if the transport would come on time. Evans pulled out a cigarette and looked for his lighter, another well dressed man walked over, struck a match, and lit it for Evans, “So, who you with?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m Charles Watson  with the Strongfield Post.”

“Oh, sorry, we’re not reporters. We’re… on government business?” Evans looked to Polly, “What the fuck do we say we’re doing?”

“How should I know, wait for the Colonel?”

“So you’re here on what kind of business?”

“Sir, I’m gonna level with you,” Evans took a puff of his cigarette, “I have no idea what we’re doing here. We’re just waiting for the next ship outta here.”

“Ah, might I ask who you two are?”

“James Evans. I’m from Halton.”

“Halton…” Watson furled his brow, “That’s a small town on the rail line out of Strongfield, right?”

“Yep,” Evans took another puff, “My family has a farm, so we come into Strongfield every once and a while to sell our crops.”

“So how does a young farmer end up on ‘Government Business?’”

Colonel Harvard walked up, “These two are assistants for Duchess Medway, working to prepare for her coronation. You want an exclusive? The other one is Ann Stoddart.”

“Oh, wow, may I have an interview?”

“No, sorry, transport has arrived, and Mister Evans and Mrs. Stoddart really must be going right now,” He looked to the two of them, “Come on, let’s pop off. Transport leaves in an hour.”

As the trio left, Evans shouted back to the man, “IF YOU WANT A HEROIC STORY, LOOK FOR ENSIGN CARRUTHERS OF THE FIFTH!”

“Alright, first off, I apologize deeply, but you two will have to share a room. Normally I’d offer to share a cabin with Mister Evans and give Mrs. Stoddart a room to yourself, but I have to stay with my representative so they make sure I don’t bring any documents… It’s all a bit ridiculous, but you know, whatever they have to do to get you to safely to Medway. And, if anyone asks you what you’re doing, it is perfectly alright to say what you’re doing. It’s not a secret or anything. Just make sure to act professional about it all.”

“Yes Mister Harvard.”

“Very Well. And remember, you will be searched once we get on board, so empty your pockets and try not to look too suspicious, alright?”