Childish Games

The young child-like voice made Eudokia pull her head up from her book. It immediately struck her as odd that someone close to her age would be in the South Gate. She was aware of the nearly unheard nature of her assignment. ‘I don’t know her…’ Eudokia remained silent trying to figure out the child.

An awkward atmosphere built up for the kid. Dareia started to fidget with the loose bits of her dress. “Um…h-hello?” She leaned a little down trying to meet Eudokia, thinking she might have been rude for not exchanging any formality. Her tiny hand stretched out as an offering.

No movement came from Eudokia. She kept her caution. It was an unknown situation and unplanned. ‘What does she want?’ Her mind tried to understand the purpose of greeting her. Something in her mind told her it was a trap. She tried to figure it out.

Silence only made things worse for the child. Her words became more broken. “S-sorry…I go…mistake…” When she realized how horribly spoken her words became it only made her more embarrassed. Her feet stumbled backward, knocking her into the bookshelf. Immediately, she turned around grabbing a hold of the books and shelf as though her small frame could do something to it. Once everything seemed stable, she ran off down the aisle.

Eudokia watched her round the corner and disappeared from sight. A bit of a confused look crept into the edges of her face. “Hmm…strange…”

Chapter 201 – Childish Games

More than a week passed before Eudokia caught sight of the girl. She was walking out of the barracks. The girl hid behind many other soldiers. She had the look of hesitation, but also security. Dareia seemed to think she hid herself well. However, Eudokia found her too easily. It was obvious, since the girl looked at her differently than everyone else. They all pretended not to look or schemed, the girl simply watched. She saw Eudokia, unlike the rest.

Since the girl seemed content on watching, Eudokia didn’t make any attempt to tip her off. ‘She’s back. At first I thought she might have been a soldier’s child, but twice seems unlikely.’ It only filled her thoughts for a moment. Another person on the Base didn’t concern her. Eudokia just continued her routine.

For her, the routine started to become common to have Dareia sightings, as she began to call them. She saw her more frequently, only confirming her suspicions about the child. Since Eudokia didn’t have a motivation to figure out the reason, it turned into a game for her. She almost looked forward to discovering where the girl hid herself the next time.

Eudokia lost track of how many weeks or months passed in their game. It became a common part of her routine. Which was why Eudokia didn’t understand it when she didn’t see the girl one time. There was always a period of time she didn’t show up, confirming for Eudokia that she was assigned to a team.

‘Gone again,’ commented Eudokia, making it the third day. It was out of the pattern. It should have not been something that interested her. The girl was just another soldier, part of the background. Yet her thoughts frequently went back to Dareia, always wondering. ‘Did she get reassigned? Is she injured?’

Why did her thoughts focus on Dareia so much?

Eudokia didn’t know the answer, despite asking the question repeatedly.

After the fourth day, Eudokia took initiative. She went around searching the Base for clues. ‘She’s got to be around here somewhere.’ The unusual appearance of the child squad leader in parts of the Headquarters not seen before had people talking. Eudokia ignored them more than usual. Her focus kept her from noticing the attention she drew.

‘Nothing,’ she thought, dropping down in her cot. The rest of her team sat around playing a game of cards, a cot away from her. She spent the entire day searching. It completely disrupted her routine. She got nothing done. Yet she still wondered where the girl went.

Three more days passed with Eudokia searching.

She found nothing.

She gave up trying to find her. Eudokia passed the idea from her mind. It was over. Or so she thought. Her mind decided it wasn’t over. She reached out and grabbed the wrist of whoever passed by her. “Tell me where I can find her.” The words left her lips as a hard command, even though her eyes never even looked at the soldier.

“Huh?” the soldier uttered, “The hell you want?”

“The child.” Eudokia didn’t have patience to deal with a troublesome soldier. “The soldier that’s a child.”

“The only child I see is the one in front of me.”

The tone the soldier took with her made her snap. “I see someone’s a wiseass.” Eudokia tightened her hand around the man’s wrist and moved faster than he expected. Before the soldier had a chance to react, he was already on his knees with his arm behind him bent up to the point of dislocating. “Do you always use that tone towards a superior officer?”

“Wha-“ Pain and yelps broke through the man’s lips. He tried to break free, but Eudokia’s hold kept him down. “Just because you’re one of those freaks doesn’t mean you’re superior. You only got that rank because of who you are!”

Eudokia pulled on his arm a little more, drawing out another yelp. “I guess there’s still some ignorant of things around here.” She dropped her badge in front of him, holding both her rank as well as the color of a squad leader.

The man went silent for a moment. “You could have just used your power—“ Eudokia kicked over, releasing him. She stood over him letting him get a good look at her. His eyes widened looking back at the badge. “A child, squad leader badge. You’re her!”

She sighed as he finally put everything together. The look in his eyes changed again, back to the same one everyone else had. Crossing her arms, she stepped forward to press her matter. “Now that I have your attention, tell me about the one. The other child here.”

“Huh?” The look on his face had one of someone caught in the middle of an embarrassing act. It took the man a while for him to come out of his stunned reaction. “A child? Are you talking about Second Lieutenant Dareia?”

The name immediately rang familiar for Eudokia. “That’s the one.”

“You didn’t know her? Everyone's been talking about her for months, the second kid in a year.”

“Everyone?” Eudokia felt a little embarrassed by the fact that she knew nothing of what he talked about. She didn’t even know when she arrived. “What barracks is she assigned to?”

“Barracks E, I think.” The answer was all she wanted from him. She marched off leaving the man behind. “Hey, what’s this all about?” No response came to him. “The hell!?” Eudokia suddenly stopped, turning the soldier’s expression even stranger. She back pedaled quickly to be in front of him in a moment.

Eudokia stared down at the man. Her hand came out towards him. “Give it back.” Embarrassment filled up her cheeks a little, her eyes darting away. It took a moment for the soldier to figure it out. Her badge returned to her hand and she disappeared once more.

Barracks E stood in front of her. The entrance called to her, but her body hesitated. ‘What am I doing? Will I really find her in here? Why am I even here?’ Indecision suddenly paralyzed her body.

Minutes passed in front of the entrance with no action. It wasn’t until the door opened forcing Eudokia awake, that she moved. The soldier coming out stared at her questioning her reason for being in front of the barrack. It stiffened her resolve, pushing past the soldier almost out of spite. However, inside she faced a new problem. The barracks was as large as the rest, meaning there were plenty of places she could be, if she was in the barracks at all.

The scene was set for her. She had to move forward. It was at least what she told her legs to keep moving. Everyone in the barracks stared at her. They had a different look in their eyes, one telling her that she was in the wrong place. She ignored them and kept scanning everywhere. ‘Is she here? I’m not seeing her…’

Eudokia reached the end of the walkway. The other door to the barrack stood in front of her. ‘…not here…’ There was no sign of her. She questioned making another pass, but didn’t turn around. Her hand went for the door, opening it back out into the grounds. Turning briefly back, she made a final pass on the barracks.

Nothing.

It didn’t bring her any sort of closure. She wasn’t sure what she was going to find. Everything just happened and quickly. Her mind tried to sort it out. ‘I’m going to the library. I need to clear my head.’ Eudokia determined too much focus went on a strange little girl. It was enough.

The walk to the library tried to clear out her thoughts. A haze hung over everything. She hoped it would go away. Her mind needed something else to do. ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’

Eudokia never made it to the library. She came to an abrupt stop. It could have been luck or chance. She wasn’t certain at the time. ‘It’s her!’ The girl just laid there resting on the stone covered ground. It was an out of the way area, off the normal route to get to anywhere quickly. It was only a path to take when wanting to wander.

Her goal stood before her, but Eudokia did not know what she wanted out of it. She found her. ‘What do I do?’ She never planned for the next step. Therefore, Eudokia stood in silence.

In the silence, time passed for a while. It gave Dareia enough time to wake up from her nap. Once she realized Eudokia stared down at her, in a look that appeared far worse than the emotions behind them, she screamed in surprise. She crawled around the area looking for protection, but out in the open she naturally found none. “S-sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”

“Shut up!” She broke out of her turmoil, hearing the child repeating the same word over and over.

Dareia cowered away. “I’m sorry!”

“I said quit apologizing!”

It silenced the child for a moment. “No you didn’t,” she muttered, quietly. Dareia tried to look up at Eudokia, but turned away. Her body trembled.

The scene felt a little awkward for Eudokia. She looked like a bully, which was never her intention. ‘Dealing with people older, younger or the same age was never one of my strengths. I never had a lot of practice, I was too focused on other matters.’ Eudokia felt frustrated with herself. She didn’t know what to do in such a situation. She had to calm the girl down. Eudokia dropped down to sit and think.

The disengagement made Dareia a little curious. It was enough to shake her of her fear. She cautiously approached Eudokia, pausing every step to see how she reacted. No reaction came from the completely engrossed Eudokia. Dareia was nearly on top of Eudokia before she said anything. “…um…”

Angry again, Eudokia popped her eyes open. “Quiet for a moment! I’m trying to think about my next move!”

The two girls stared at each other. Dareia looked frightened, but paralyzed with wonder. The words out of Eudokia had her a little puzzled. It drew a contrary image of the situation. It was almost bizarre. Dareia burst out in laughter for no clear reason. She couldn’t stop laughing. It became infectious enough to make Eudokia laugh as well.

‘It was the first time I remembered laughing in front of someone other than Demosthenes or my father.’