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AFTER A QUICK TRIP to his room to prepare, Micah pressed the button outside his closed door to let him know someone was there to see him. It opened with a click and he walked through, stopped, and then slowly began backing out. Until Walker saw him and waved him forward.
Ajax and the new Warrior were nose to nose yelling at each other. Emory was off to the side with baby Jackson in her arms, rolling her eyes. She had a swift smile and a “Hi, Micah,” for him. Walker was sitting at his desk, arms crossed and fingers tapping on his biceps.
Before he could get Walker’s attention, Levi jogged into the room and motioned to Emory, and ran out again with a hurried head nod toward him.
With a kiss, she handed Jackson to Ajax and rushed out behind Levi, a brief touch to Micah’s arm as she breezed past.
Ajax went right on yelling at the other Warrior while bouncing Jackson, the little one grabbing and gumming his hair.
Micah approached Walker’s desk, eying the two in the corner.
“What’s going on?”
Walker leaned back in his chair, outwardly relaxed, but the start of the glow of power behind his eyes.
“This is our new Warrior, Rowan. From the Silverthorne base. Apparently, he and Ajax don’t like each other. I’m letting them duke it out now so I don’t have to deal with it for years the way I did with Ajax and Levi.”
He lifted a brow at Walker. He nodded with a quick close of his eyes. They both knew who the common denominator was.
“Oh, and Brooke has gone into labor,” his commander added, gesturing at the doorway that Levi and Emory had just rushed through.
Micah squeezed the back of the chair in front of him. Levi had looked very nervous, and so had Emory. That made him nervous, and he didn’t even know why.
“She okay?” he asked, stomach clenching.
Walker studied him for a second and then nodded. “As far as I know, everything is fine. Emory is helping with the birth.”
Micah nodded. Emory was a nurse, a fine one, and he felt better knowing she was with Brooke.
That covered, he and Walker turned back the squabbling Warriors in the corner. They were winding down, finally.
“If you two are done,” Walker said loudly over the top of them, “I’d like Micah to officially meet Rowan.”
With a hot green glare Ajax’s direction, he stepped forward and held out a hand. “I’m Rowan.”
“This is the Warrior that helped dig you out of the landslide,” Walker said.
When the mountain had come down, Ajax was still at the base, Levi still with Brooke, and apparently Walker and Rowan had come back just in time to realize what was happening and come to his aid. He was thankful they had.
He and Rowan grasped each other’s wrists in a traditional greeting, and Micah felt a jolt of recognition, a strange affinity. Rowan was Earth, but he wasn’t. He was a type of Warrior he hadn’t ever met in person.
Hands still clasped, Micah rotated Rowan’s arm and eyed his glyphs. Vines and leaves and blossoms, in between black, covered most of the skin on his arms, down to his wrists.
“Yeah,” Rowan said with a nod as Micah let go of his wrist, “I’m Botanical.”
“Flora,” Ajax scoffed, dragging out the word, making it sound dirty.
To Rowan’s credit, he ignored Ajax this time, though his hazel eyes heated to a supernatural green.
Botanical, the power of living green things. He was a real Elemental, but a young one. It made no sense why he would harass Rowan over it, but that was Ajax.
“Welcome Rowan,” Micah managed with a nod, and then shook his head at Ajax, who shrugged in return.
“The guy interrupted my plans for food and... other things,” Ajax said with a smirk.
“We need to discuss the Premiers and other important matters,” Walker said pointedly, “but I’d rather wait until Levi can join us. So you’re excused for now.”
Micah turned toward the door with the others.
“Except for you, Micah.”
With a deep sigh, he pivoted back toward Walker as Ajax passed, an oddly sympathetic look on his face.
Ajax leaned in close. “You’ll thank me later.”
What did he mean? It made him wary.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Walker leaned back in his chair and stared at him for a full minute before he motioned to the chair. “Sit.”
Walker was calm, no anger in his face, but it was clearly an order and not an invitation.
So Micah sat.
“I want to know what happened.”
He swallowed. “I already gave you my report, sir—”
His commander waved a hand, cutting off his words. “I don’t mean a report, Micah. I mean what happened. With Jade. With you. On the mountain. I have my suspicions, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
He closed his eyes for a second and then took a steeling breath. He might crack yet.
“Micah.” Walker’s voice was soft but firm.
He opened his eyes and met Walker’s.
“We’ve been together a long time, you and I. I know you must have gone through something hard, painful before we met. I’d hoped that over the years you would get more comfortable with me, be able to open up a bit. And you have, to a degree. But you’ve become more withdrawn than ever since Jade. I need to know what is going on. I need to know I can still rely on you.” Walker’s voice lowered. “I need to know you’re okay.”
Micah looked down at his hands clasped in front of him and squeezed them together until his knuckles ached. He was not okay. Jade was alive and well and knew what he was, what they were. And yet she was gone and that hurt every bit as bad as when Tokoni had died. But now the memory and the pain of that were muted by time. Jade’s memory was fresh and cut him every moment he was awake.
He missed her so much. A piece of him was missing, a piece he hadn’t realized he’d given away. Jade was a piece of his soul that he’d missed even in the afterlife.
And it was his own damn fault. He couldn’t open his mouth and ask her to stay, couldn’t tell her how he felt with everyone around. He couldn’t open himself up, so he’d just let her go.
And it was because of his past, because he couldn’t let them go.
Maybe he could, now. He had to try.
“My first assignment here was on an island in the Pacific, under a different commander...” Micah started hesitantly, but he kept pushing through, and the words came easier. He told his story, the story of his village and of Tokoni, with all the parts he’d left out for Jade. All the parts that Walker would understand, even some of those he’d wanted to tell his first commander.
He told him about the young man at the portal, too. The one he’d thought he could save as atonement for Tokoni. The one that had instead caused all the danger to Jade.
When he was done, he took a deep long breath, holding it a minute before slowly letting it out and looking at Walker. He’d told his story twice now, and with each telling the decades-old knot in his chest loosened a little more. Maybe that was what he needed, to share it. To not be alone with it anymore.
“I’m sorry,” Walker said simply. “They want us to blend in and to be invisible, and they spend so much time teaching us to speak the languages and to act naturally that they neglect other important things. They do a shit job of preparing us for what it’s like, for the effect a world of Chaos has on our emotions. They do a shit job preparing us for caring...” He looked down at his desk. “And for losing.”
Spoken like a Warrior, a man, who had plenty of experience with both. Loving, and losing.
“Your turn. What’s with the painting?” Micah asked, raising his chin to it.
Walker’s lips tipped up into a smile, but then twisted until the corners pointed down. “I guess that’s what I get for encouraging us to be open with each other, right?” He glanced at him with a blue flash and then back down at his desk. “But I’m not ready to share that story yet.”
It was a gift that he could talk about Tokoni and his village. Only due to Jade. If it weren’t for her, he probably wouldn’t have been ready to share either. So he understood. But he also knew sharing was required for healing. He nodded to Walker. “Someday, then.”
Walker looked at him for a long second and then nodded. “Someday.”
Speaking to his commander about his past made it easier for him to speak to him of other important things. He took a breath and looked his Commander in the eye and said, “I was coming to discuss this with you, anyway. I am not okay, but I could be.” It was hard to admit, but he had to. “I need to go to her. I need to fix things, to make them right.”
Micah could tell Walker didn’t need an explanation of why he’d gone right from talking about Tokoni to talking about Jade. He swallowed hard. “We’re bonded.”
That was the closest he could come to saying how he felt about Jade. How she was his happiness and his life and his soul. How she made him feel like the strongest man on Earth, and the weakest, simultaneously. How he couldn’t be complete without her.
The bond was something only rediscovered since Levi and Brooke got together. A sharing of powers, of souls, due to love for each other.
“I thought that might be it.” Walker stared, thoughtful. “That’s how survived the landslide, came back from your Elemental form. Jade was sending you some of her power through the bond.”
He nodded, remembering that thread of warmth from her that brought him back from darkness, in more ways than one.
Walker pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “Micah, you’re the very last person I expected to fall in love with anyone. The very last.” His hand dropped to the table with a thud, and Micah stiffened, body, heart, and soul tensing for a battle.
“But I’m glad you did.” Walker’s voice was soft, his eyes sincere. “You can have a few days off. Rowan can pick up the slack. Go to her,” he grated, tipping his head towards the door.
Micah stood quickly, blood racing through his veins. He would go to her, but there was something he must to do first, something he had to get. “Thank you, Commander.”
Walker’s reply was a sighing nod and a wave of his hand, a dismissal.
He turned and strode to the door. As he pulled it shut behind him, Walker turned away in his chair and stared up at the painting behind his desk.