[Backstory] Captaincy

She felt that she deserved some recognition for her professionalism, up until this point. She was visibly disappointed when she had been told she hadn't made the rank; disappointed but perfectly polite. She didn't question it, because it wasn't her place. She would get told what she needed to do better from Alora, and she would get better. As simple as that.
 
That was until she learned who had got the promotion.
 
The poor training dummy had no idea what hit it that caused most of the straw stuffing to be knocked out of its head. The training blade was left embedded in its neck with such force that it vibrated with a low twang.
 
Brennan looked up from tending to his sword and laughed. “Did the strawman offend you, little bird?”
 
Robyn didn't answer or even look at him as she stamped past, the door to the barracks slamming behind her.

Brennan blinked twice, and went to move his sword aside and follow, but a voice from the corridor stopped him.
 
“Let her be, lad. She’ll simmer down in her own time”
 
Nessa looked solemn as she came into the yard, her brow furrowed in concern, Madoc not far behind her. "We've got a new captain."
 
Madoc simply spat on the floor. "Blighted politics."
 
Brennan winced. "That doesn't sound good."
 
"It ain't. It's Stoneshield."
 
"Madoc," Nessa admonished.
 
"Well it ain't good!"
 
"Like it or not, he's our Captain." Brennan wasn't quite sure where Caine drifted in from, Elyn at his shoulder. Despite the two of them clearly coming in from spellcasting drills (held a safe distance away from clustered buildings) Caine still managed to look well presented and composed next to Elyn's bedraggled hair and normally bright grin. Today she simply looked tired and disheartened.
 
"He wouldn't have been my first choice," she said a little sulkily.
 
"We don't get to choose," Nessa and Caine said in unison. "We all know who our choice would have been," Caine added sadly.
 
"That's not how the military works, lad, and you know it," Nessa chided gently. Caine wrinkled his nose at lad but otherwise didn't answer - he knew that to be true after all.
 
Madoc spat again. "Politics."
 
Brennan sighed and set his sword aside. "So what do we do now?"
 
"What can we do?" Elyn shrugged and moved to join Brennan on the bench, swinging her feet idly. "Orders are orders."
 
All of them looked as the barracks door opened, Robyn emerging, her jaw tight holding her emotion in. She nodded stiffly to her comrades and stepped over to the dummy, trying to pull the sword free, and failing.
 
"Are you okay Roby?" Elyn asked gently.
 
Her hand went still on the sword hilt and she paused, considering her answer carefully. "No," she said eventually, remaining still.
 
Brennan got to his feet, reaching an arm over Robyn's shoulder and closing his hand over hers, helping her remove the sword. She leaned into his half embrace as he rubbed her shoulder soothingly.
 
"There'll be other positions," Caine counselled. "Other opportunities."
 
"No, there won't." Robyn sighed heavily, looking deflated. "I'll never get approved by the Council. They've made that clear. My family don't make the cut."
 
Elyn frowned, looking confused, her swinging legs coming to a stop. "That makes no sense. You've been part of the Skirmishers forever. Your dad was a skirmisher, Quinn tells you things about him all the time! We're your family. You couldn't be more a skirmisher."
 
Madoc and Nessa exchanged a look and Elyn bristled. "C'mon don't do that long-lived-person-look-thing," she protested.
 
Everyone stopped and looked at her quizzically, causing her to huff again. "Y'know! The thing that elves and dwarves do when they just know stuff because they were around decades ago before the rest of us were born."
 
"Aye they do do that a lot," Brennan agreed.
 
"Oh, hush," Nessa said with an eyeroll. "Sometimes what we know is not ours to share."
 
"It's fine, Nessa." Robyn said with a sigh. "No secrets amongst family."
 
They filed inside their barracks, Caine lighting the braziers on the walls with gentle waves of his hands, each of them finding a seat in their common room as they sat in a circle together as they had hundreds of times before. Robyn shared what she knew, that her father didn't simply go missing after the uprisings: he'd been exiled.
 
"But he was in the Guard, right?" Elyn questioned. "Why would they exile him?"
 
Robyn shrugged. "They won't say."
 
"Regardless, the sins of your father should not be yours to bear," Caine said sagely. Brennan huffed.
 
"Likely as not that there aren't any sins anyway. Just another human in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wouldn't be the first."
 
"And wouldn't be the first dwarf putting a family member in a favourable position either," Madoc added. "Highly decorated squad for your first command? Looks good for the Stoneshields."
 
"Careful," Nessa warned. Robyn nodded in agreement.
 
"Whatever it is, I'm not to look into it further. Orders from the top."
 
"This feels wrong," Elyn complained.
 
"Put it aside, Elyn," Nessa counselled, ever the voice of reason. "Won't be the first decision from the brass you disagree with. Won't be the last either."
 
The bell rang outside signalling the change of watch and hour, and Madoc got to his feet. "Come on, you lot. Let's get some scran before it gets too late. We can figure the rest of this out in the morning."
 
Robyn let herself be pulled to her feet from her chair, smiling softly as Caine started giving Elyn feedback on her earlier performance as they trained. No matter what happened, these people would always be her family.