The Commanders Cat Ch 01 02

I've been writing this story when I need a break from working on Love at First Gear and have finally passed the 50,000 mark on this one. I intend to keep going and write at least 50-100k more, but thought I'd like to see what people think of this story before I continue. - Ava

ONE - Hanna

I'll never forget the day we found out the fae were real. I was still too young to understand some of the things that would come later, but I, like everyone else, was caught off guard by the realities of living alongside them.

They had always known about us, of course, but we only knew them from stories and legends. When news first began to spread about contact we anticipated the Seelie court in their finery, with their dancing and enchanted food. But it wasn't the Seelie court who reached out to us.

When they invaded the city we heard it was monsters from the forest at first, golems of stone, living trees, creatures like werewolves and banshees that screamed ceaselessly for weeks. Our peaceful city, fraught with class struggles though it may have been, became a Hell on Earth. The cobblestones, once the light sandy color of the desert they were quarried in, were now stained with blood, the tracks of war indelibly pressed into the streets and walls of our once-vibrant city.

We couldn't escape them. With magick they unlocked every door, burned homes, smoked us out of underground shelters, detected us wherever we tried to hide. Some of us were killed, some captured, but the city quickly fell to the invaders. Our army wasn't prepared to fight things they couldn't see. There was no way to match sword against magick. The few soldiers who could actually see their magick, see them for what they really were, were conscripted for their half-fae blood. Their families never heard from them again.

The conflict never reached the steps of the Dyers' District, where my family lived. Our city government collapsed under the strain and with no army to defend us we weren't prepared to put up any kind of a fight. The fae installed a governor of their choice and overnight the laws of our city had changed.

Life went on in the Dyers' District. Both of my parents were dyers, and my elder brothers followed in their footsteps. I showed promise in making designs and found myself apprenticed to a master cartographer in the military quarter. I was still considered a child then at 16 years of age, and I looked like a child too, so I proceeded unbothered on my daily commute from the Dyers' District to the military quarter. It was a long walk but I knew that becoming a cartographer would lift me out of the working class, and I would have a considerably easier life than my parents had been able to eke out among the vats of turmeric and indigo-colored dye.

The conflict was over by the time I started my apprenticeship and although the city bore the marks of her invasion everything else was routine. I assumed the Unseelie had invaded us in search of resources or land, something they'd run out of. I didn't understand what was happening around me until a fae officer entered the cartographer's office on a clear summer morning one year into my apprenticeship.

"There is a girl that works here, yes?" he asked the master cartographer, who nodded and gestured to me. The officer approached me at my desk, and I stood to bow, but he ignored me as he fumbled in a satchel at his hip. With some effort he finally produced a handful of different colored ribbons and a long pin. "What district do you live in?" he barked. "The Dyers' District," I answered, slightly shaken. The officer looked to my master for confirmation, and he nodded solemnly. With a shrug, the officer skewered an embroidered purple ribbon on the pin first. Even he knew I was working out of my class for a girl from the dye vats. He next asked, "how old are you?"

My eyes darted to my master for some sort of explanation, but he only nodded to indicate I must answer.

"Seventeen," I said, quietly.

"Hmm," the officer said thoughtfully as he skewered a black ribbon on the pin next, followed by a sage green ribbon. "You must wear this every day. Where is your coat?" he demanded, and I lifted it from my chair. "Put it on, hurry up," he barked, and I scrambled to put it on as quickly as I could. Without warning he snatched the lapel of my coat and pulled me closer to him, then roughly skewered the pin through the lapel and fastened it in place.

"What is it for?" I asked in confusion, trying to maintain my balance as he tugged on my outerwear.

"It's so we know who you are at a glance. You live in the Dyers' District," he stabbed his finger painfully into my chest as he pointed at the ribbon embroidered with the dyers' guild's talisman, "you work in the military district," he stabbed at the green one now, grinning as I winced, "and this one," he dug his finger painfully into the black ribbon, "means you're underage."

"Underage?" I asked, my voice barely more than a squeak.

"Yeah, so you can't be conscripted, or fucked. Yet." His grin widened at my obvious discomfort. Suddenly he turned on his heel and marched out of the office without another word. My master and I stood in stunned silence, although he knew it was coming, and I did not.

I spent the next year memorizing tunnels and other hidden ways to get around the city. I learned to get around using the rooftops and other structures the soldiers often didn't bother with now that the war was definitely settled business. I stayed in the shadows and my daily goal was to walk to work without anyone noticing me. I think I got pretty good at it, too. Most days no one even looked my direction. I dressed plainly and hid my long hair beneath a cap. In the past I had wished I looked more feminine, but my short stature and plain clothing helped me to look more like a young boy, and I embraced it now. It was my camouflage.

The day I turned 18 another officer came to the cartographer's office. I had wondered when it would happen, or how. Would I have to report somewhere voluntarily and get my new pin? What if I didn't - would I get in trouble then? He spoke to the master for a few minutes before I overheard my name.

"...an apprentice named Hanna..."

My blood ran cold, but I stood and walked around the corner, standing on the edge of the platform where my little corner of the cartographer's office started.

"Here, sir," I said, as calmly as I could.

Instead of grabbing me and yanking on my coat like the last officer had, he motioned with one finger for me to approach. I brought my coat, I knew what he was there for and there was no point in annoying him by taking too long. I put the coat on and stood facing him.

"Remove your pin," he said, to my surprise. I had expected him to unfasten it from my coat just as the last officer had fastened it himself. I removed it and presented it to him and watched as he removed the green and black ribbon, then skewered a white ribbon and the green one back on it, pocketing the black ribbon before handing me my altered pin.

"You're of conscription and marriage age. Congratulations, and happy birthday."

He bowed to me and my master both, then left the office. My master exhaled sharply as soon as the door closed behind the officer.

"At least he was more polite than the brute that showed up last time," he plopped into his chair heavily and suddenly looked very, very old. Had Shadeem always been so wrinkled and tired-looking? Or had the last few years taken more from him than I had realized?

"Well," Shadeem continued, "one more year and you'll be a cartographer. You must stay hidden, like we talked about. Wear a scarf or something, cover that pin." He leaned back and lifted his feet onto a small ottoman upholstered with a piece of silk that probably cost more than my family's home. "You are almost there, Hanna, and I cannot lose you now." He groaned as he leaned over and poured some water into the crystal glass that always rested on his desk. "I can't start all over training a new apprentice, I want to retire soon."

I barely heard his words. My legs were shaking as the adrenaline left my system, and I collapsed onto the edge of the platform, hitting it with my butt first and then flopping over onto my back, arms outstretched on the luxurious carpet that I walked on every day. It probably cost more than my house

and

the house next door, together. I don't know what I expected. For the officer to change my ribbon and then bend me over the master's desk? Or conscript me to draw maps for the fae warriors - maybe both?

"What if they conscript me?" my voice was barely more than a whisper.

Shadeem laughed. "They won't conscript you. You might be talented but you are still just a woman to them. They don't have enough women, you know that's what this was all about. They aren't going to send one to the frontlines of whatever war they're waging somewhere else." He chuckled a little more. "No, Hanna dear, one more year and you'll get this office and your artisan pin. You must stay hidden," he trailed off now as he started to repeat himself and sipped loudly on his water.

"Let's see," he said as I collected myself from the floor, "nearly three in the afternoon, I think that's enough for me. You stay a few hours longer and work on that cistern map the city ordered. Yes, that would be good."

I made myself comfortable behind my desk as he cleaned off his desk and collected his belongings. I bade him good afternoon and he left, locking the door to the cartographer's office behind him. At least in there I was safe. As the days grew shorter I would have an easier time getting home in the darkness, and I was tempted to stay late enough that night would aid my commute. Even though I knew the day would come that I would lose my black ribbon of protection I suddenly felt like I had a target on my back, and all of my clandestine practices bore new weight.

I worked on my own orders for an hour or so, then went to his desk and collected the cistern map. My master's work had started to decline, but I would clean it up every evening and say nothing. His hands had begun to shake and the straight lines he could freehand when I first took up my post were now jagged and ran at odd angles. I enjoyed my work and easily lost myself in it, and didn't notice the growing darkness until I could barely see the desk in front of me.

Looking up through the wall of windows along the back of our office I saw the crescent moon rising over the rooftops of the nearby military offices. It gave a little shine to the waxed tents that housed the majority of our invaders, although I couldn't see much more than the tops of the tents between the olive bushes and pomegranate trees that filled the little courtyard behind the cartographer's office. The cartographer's office was a beautiful oasis in the military quarter, which was otherwise filled with cold stone buildings, carts laden with supplies, and various other implements of war.

Shadeem had been kind enough to allow me to collect plants, and now I tipped out the rest of his drinking water into their little saucers, pulling loose a dead leaf and squashing bugs as I made my way down the row of little pots beneath the windows. I returned his beloved decanter to his desk and put on my coat, carefully wound my hair into my cap, and then slung my bag over my shoulder, covering the ribbons with the strap of my bag as I did so. I would get in a lot of trouble if I was ever caught hiding the ribbons, so I couldn't allow myself to be caught.

I tried to take a slightly different route each day, and this night I took one of my favorites. I passed through a darkened alley, then climbed up a forgotten ladder against a garden wall. I ran along the top of the wall, the scent of oleander bushes filling my nostrils and clinging to my clothes before I dropped into another alley. Zigging and zagging through the city I made my way to the Dyers' District, stopping at a market stall and purchasing a kebab with some of the small daily stipend I received for my work as an apprentice. I stood in a darkened niche behind the stall and ate my kebab in silence, then ran on, the scents of rose and nettle dye baths welcoming me home.

It was increasingly difficult to return to my rustic home in the Dyers' District. In truth, I had grown to resent it. My bedroom wasn't much more than a mat of reeds behind a curtain, and on hot nights I slept on the roof with my entire family. Leaving the lush furnishings of the cartographer's office and knowing that Shadeem went home to a villa with comfortable beds and couches felt like a punishment for just being born to the wrong family. But I loved my family, and I gladly returned each night to see their happy faces. I didn't know what I would do when the keys of the cartographer's office passed to me. I would miss my family if I bought my own home elsewhere, and as humble as the Dyers' District was, I would miss the scents of the floral dye baths and the sights of mounds of colorful flower petals waiting to be made into dye.

I was very late when I finally arrived home that night. My father and brothers had gone to bed, but my mother sat up waiting for me, burning a candle we couldn't afford to waste. When she saw me she jumped from her seat at the dining table and rushed to embrace me, then paused as her eyes fell on my white ribbon. She wept for me. I tried my best to reassure her, but wondered why it was this way and not her reassuring me.

As the months went by I grew more confident both in my abilities as a cartographer and my ability to hide in plain sight. I avoided the invaders with ease, and the more assignments I took over from my master the more I learned about the military and how they moved through the city. It made it even easier to stay away from them. Each night my mother waited up for me. Each week I bought her another box of candles with my stipend.

Life continued in this strange rhythm well into the winter months when I arrived at the cartographer's office one morning to find it still locked. I walked around the side and vaulted over the courtyard wall to peer in the windows. I couldn't see Shadeem anywhere in the office, nor resting on the courtyard benches, and I didn't have a key of my own. I vaulted back over the courtyard wall and stumbled as I came face-to-chest with one of the tall fae soldiers. He looked at me curiously before lifting my cap, allowing my black tresses to tumble over my shoulders and chest.

"Are you Hanna Bahira?" he asked, his tone giving nothing away.

"Yes," I answered instantly, not thinking to lie.

"Your master has taken ill, and I've been sent to let you into the office and give you your work for the day."

I nodded curtly, but he still held my cap above my head, unmoving.

"Do you always come to work this way, vaulting over courtyard walls and slinking through alleys?"

My heart dropped, stopped, and then pounded a staccato rhythm in my chest. How did he know about the slinking?

"I, uhm," I found myself suddenly dumb in his presence.

"Who taught you to hide like that?" he pressed on, undetermined by my sudden inability to speak.

"No one, sir," I stuttered as I spoke, afraid I was about to be punished. "I just figured it out on my own."

"Hmm. Interesting." He lowered my cap back to my head before reaching down to move the strap of my bag away from the pins it hid. He gave me a pointed look, then turned and walked toward the front door of the office.

"Is-" I began, speaking to his back, "is Shadeem expected to recover? When might he be back? I'm not finished with my apprenticeship and, uhm," I began stuttering again as he opened the door for me and then followed me inside.

"I don't know if Master Zeidani will return anytime soon, or at all. He is actually quite old for one of your kind." The officer locked the door behind us and I tried my best not to stumble over the platform as I made my way to the safety of my desk.

"It would not be so bad for you if he didn't come back, although we might have to find someone else to finish training you."

"We?" I asked, unsure of who I was working for now.

"Yes," he continued as he rifled through the notes on my master's desk. "If he were not to recover you would, of course, receive your uniform and some decorations."

I tried to steady my hands as I collected my trays of measuring and drawing implements, but my hands shook and rattled the contents of the glass trays all the way from the cupboard at the back of the office to my desk.

"U-uniform?" I asked, still stuttering, and now trembling all over.

"Surely Master Zeidani told you?"

I stared at him blankly. He sighed in answer.

"Why must I do everything," he sighed again, his shoulders sagging a bit before he turned and was suddenly as stiff-backed as he had been before.

"When your master passes you the keys to the office, you are officially conscripted. Until then, give me your pin."

"My pin?" I asked dumbly, stunned as my world crashed and burned at my feet.

"Yes, you know, the ribbons. Get me your pin before I have to find it myself."

I deposited my tools onto my desk with a clatter that made him wince, then scrambled to find my coat. Amnesia struck me as I spun in circles in my office looking for it. He cleared his throat again and pointed at the cupboard.

"Oh, yes, of course," I said, then stumbled over the rug on the way to the cupboard. I could see him shaking his head out of the periphery of my vision.

"From vaulting over walls to tripping over carpets, you do puzzle me, Miss Bahira."

My cheeks burned as I tried to ignore his comment. I wrestled the pin from the lapel of my coat, which was now well-worn and barely buttoned anywhere except around my waist. I presented the pin to him and watched as he assessed it.

"This is rusted, how long have you had it?"

"Almost three years, sir," I answered quietly.

"And you avoided anyone taking your white ribbon since the summer? Impressive," he said, then pocketed the pin and all its ribbons. My stomach dropped as I thought he intended to not only conscript me, but force me to marry him as well. Instead he reached into another pocket and pulled out a pin, golden in color this time, with no rust on it. He fastened a black ribbon, a gold ribbon, and another black ribbon onto it, then gestured for me to come closer.

"You have to wear this all the time, and it has to be highly visible. When you put your coat on, move it to your coat. When you don't wear your coat, put it on your clothing, or that ridiculous cap you wear. But you must always display it, even when you are in this office. Understood?"

I hesitated. "Yes, but what does it mean?"

He gently pinned the first black ribbon against my collar bone with his finger. "This means where you live is between you and I," he moved his finger to the gold ribbon, "no one else can touch you, arrest you, conscript you, or marry you," and finally the last black ribbon, "where you work is between you and I."

I looked down at my ribbons with my brow furrowed. "Why would you give me a gold ribbon?" I had never seen one on a civilian before. I thought they were reserved for officers and dignitaries who were otherwise immune to the law.

He sighed. "You don't answer questions for anyone except for me. No one can interfere with your work, and you are under my protection as long as you are in his post, temporary or otherwise. Now, here are your orders for today," he turned and retrieved a messy stack of papers from my master's desk, "and you do not open the door or talk to anyone until I come back, understand?"

I nodded, still confused about what was happening, but resolved that I would only know what he allowed me to know. He turned, bowed, and locked the office door behind him. Suddenly my little oasis, my sanctuary, my promising future, felt more like a gilded cage.