Before the Battle

Enemies and Friends 3/8

~~~MAYA~~~

I expected it would take a while for them to arrive, so I went to have a look around. Obviously it wasn't the first time they'd been hiding there. I noticed their things all over the place.

Next to the large dining room, I spotted a smaller room with a kitchen. On the table there was a ceramic kettle with the now cold coffee, black and without sugar, just like Taira drank it. I explored the contents of the cupboards and came across some boxes of food.

The last time I had eaten was this morning, so I offered myself some biscuits, made fresh coffee in the kettle, sat down and waited.

Shira showed up first. Dressed in simple jeans and a dark t-shirt, his hair damp from the shower, he sat down at the table opposite me.

"That was quick," I said with a grin. "Where's Taira?"

"Getting dressed. And he's still pretty upset by your unexpected visit to our bedroom, so don't talk about it or tease him."

I had to smile at the way Shira was defending him. As if Taira wasn't a grown man, a soldier and army general, who couldn't handle a few suggestive remarks. 

"On the other hand, you don't seem bothered at all," I pointed out.

He shrugged unruffled, "We're all adults here and it was only sex."

"It didn't look like it."

"You didn't get a good view from that door?"

"I mean, it didn't look like 'just sex' to me," I said, remembering the mutual love and tenderness I had seen in that bedroom. "You care about him a lot."

It seemed completely unnecessary to say this, I knew he loved him, after all he had risked his life for Taira. But I would have liked to hear it from Shira himself.

"You know I do," he replied curtly, indicating that he didn't want to discuss the matter with me.

I found it ironic that Shira had absolutely no problem with me catching them having sex, but he was incredibly uncomfortable admitting that he loved Taira.

So I let it go and reached for the kettle to pour him a cup of coffee. He looked at the cup suspiciously for a moment, as if I wanted to poison him, but then he took it.

"Couldn't you talk some sense into him? Taira has his responsibilities, he should understand that."

"Let him live, the war is over," he replied. "You made him a general, a council member, he's twenty-five, don't you think you're asking too much of him? Hasn't he sacrificed enough for Resistance?"

There was a lot of truth in what Shira said. When I first met Taira, he was a nineteen-year-old boy with noble ideals, and since then he had sacrificed everything for the war against the Empire.

Surely he should be allowed to enjoy life as a normal young man of his age. The war robbed him of that.

And now the Council has burdened him with duties and responsibilities that even someone much older would find difficult to handle.

"I'm not saying you're wrong. I know he has sacrificed much for the rebellion. He hasn't seen his mother or sister for years."

Shira looked up from his untouched coffee. "He has a sister?"

"You didn't know?"

He shook his head. "I know his father was an imperial officer and died when he was young. He also mentioned once that he left home before the war, but he wouldn't tell me more."