#exiledturk

"He won't reconsider," Freya shook her head and spoke lowly, glad for Felicia distracting her little girl. This was beyond Reno realising who she was still in contact with and easing off. He was so annoyed right now even Legend wouldn't give him pause for thought.

"I pissed him off, and now it's personal." She looked to her mentor, the man who had been her former boss and had been the one unerring voice of advice in her life. He would know just how serious a matter this was. Reno wasn't one to make things personal, so when he did it usually meant he got his target no matter the cost.

Didn't help she had gotten the jump on him and knocked him out; that was the part that hurt his ego most. She hadn't wanted to drag Veld into this; the man deserved to be able to have a life with his daughter without looking over his shoulder or worrying about others. "I thought I could handle it without coming to you, but now he's out for blood."

Leif's farm was only a short journey from Kalm; too close for him to resist taking a look at the town he had called home so many years ago.

They were lying low in the farm Glenn's brother lived on, miles away from any threat. At least, that was why Glenn had brought them here; it was safe place among people he trusted.

But Kalm had been so close ... too close. Hitching a ride in the back of the old chocobo farmer's truck, the teenager had walked the rest of the way into the town. And it had struck Kunsel just how small the town really was; it had seemed much bigger when he had been younger.

One thing led to another and nostalgia had taken the boy on a journey around the cobbled streets where he saw the bakery his mother had worked in, seen kids he had known laughing and joking. They still had their folks. Still had their entire lives unblemished. He had a life of running ahead of him, branded by a company that would chase him down, and all for the promise of being a hero. What a joke.

His mood had soured with every new step down memory lane. All it had taken was someone to leave their beer unattended and one had led to another ... and all of that had led to the man grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and shoving him into Broden's Inn to lecture him.

"Lucky?" Wow, that word was pointed as fuck as Veld glared down at him. What the fuck did it have to do with the Turk ? "Yeah, lucky, lucky me ..."

He'd agreed to give Reno the two days he had asked for, an' no contact had come. So Dave had used his contacts to track Ida's oldest boy down t'this hidden away corner of the map. He'd asked for two days and it'd been three an' nearly into four. Dave was pissed off at Reno an' was annoyed at himself too for lettin' him do this solo run. The whole trip had been haunted by ideas of the boy taken prisoner, hurt or even killed. Instead he was sittin' down across from the feller he'd been tryin' to find.

So this was the feller Reno'd told him about? The exiled leader o' the Turks, an' his godfather too. Lookin' the man up an' down as he stood to his full height, Dave stood his ground an' didn't fall back into his stereotypical niceties. Nah, reckon they were far beyond playin' nice bout this.

"Ya reckon the imperials're the only threat round these parts? Y'been sold a false bill o' goods in that case." He didn't break eye contact with this spy feller, but stood stock-still when the other man slowly walked a circle round him. Dave shot Reno a death-glare in-between Veld's circuit around him.

"But feel free t'call 'em if yer still in bed with them."

She had warned Reno to stay away from her Grand-uncle Randolph. So had her dad, and so had Dave and every other hunter too, but Reno wasn't the sort to learn a lesson via advice. Nope, and that's what had him out trying to get a griffon feather, leaving her to her own devices in the marketplace while she waited for his triumphant return ... because he sure as shit wouldn't come back empty handed, even if it took all day.

Rolling her eyes, Selena busied herself examining the cactuar figurines the market stall had to offer, idly running a finger over the closest one as she tried to recall whether or not Will already had one and her daydreaming led her straight into someone's solid back.

Blinking and half stumbling back a few paces, Selena stuttered her way through an apology, her cheeks already alight with a blush.

It had taken her a lot to work up the resolve to query the man; she had never done so before. There had never been a reason before.

Knocking on the wooden doorframe of the small apartment in Lestallum, Freya gave Ruluf a silent look which he nodded to and exited the room with his two handguns, the root of his codename back in the day. Closing the door behind her, Freya waited for Veld to turn around.

"I'm in the hunters, level 2 Trapper at the moment, should make level 3 Chaser by next week, guess the hunting back in Mideel paid off." A small attempt at humour. Freya was all too aware that was why Veld had instructed her, of all the former Turks, to join the Hunters; her family had specialised in hinting back in the Empire.

"May I be blunt?" She waited for the small nod from Veld as he leaned back against a wall. "I've spent time with the hunters, weeks upon weeks now. And I've been to HQ and spoken with the Head Hunter and Reno too."

Red Dead Redemption 2:

That was an undetermined stretch of time. When would she know what she wanted to do?

Today? Tomorrow? Six months from now, or a year even?

"I ..." Freya's eyes darted up to meet Veld's and it was so hard not to feel like she was in front of the father she had never had, feeling so many different emotions and not knowing which to let take the lead. Gaze flicking back down to the worn floor, and she let out a guilty sigh. "Thank you, I know this isn't going to help matters."

Matters. What a vague way to say "you hiding from Shinra with your long-lost daughter, and the company wnats you both dead". Oh, and the other Turks who had defected too. A month or two on the run and the mission was simple; keep off the radar and out of Shinra's line of sight. It was a ball of shit whichever hand you clapped with.

And Freya had found herself in a situation she had never planned on. Expecting a kid. She didn't know how to be a parent in normal circumstances, let alone this. "- I need to tell him. Somehow."

3, 4, 5 word sentence starters:

When?

It was dead end after dead end and there was a horrible part of Kunsel that was tempted to stop looking.

But he couldn't.

That security trooper had run onto the Soldier floor those weeks ago, yelling that Cloud Strife was in the Shinra building. Cloud was reported KIA with Zack ... so if one was alive, then the other could be? When would they start hitting paydirt in these enquiries? He was a spikey-haired mountain kid who stood out from the crowd, along with the other so-called terrorists. And Aerith was among them, which meant the Turks would be on their heels.

But it was weeks later with nothing but dead ends. Even reaching out to Veld had gotten him nowhere. But it was foolish to think answers would come after so many years of silence. Looking down on Kalm, Kunsel nodded slowly and leaned against the thick stone wall, a heavy sigh escaping him. He turned his old company-issued phone over and over in his hand before pocketing it. The mail address had been burned a long time ago, but sentimentality meant he couldn't bin it.

"Thanks for looking into the leads, Veld, I appreciate it.

Well if anything ever sounded like a trap.

Stupid yearly reviews.

Freya eyeballed Veld across the room, where he sat against the farthest wall and he didn't even offer a blink. The company-ordained reviewer sat across from her, pen poised for the pretty brunette to scribble down an answer that would be handed to Veld stairght after this and he would either study it or destroy it. After studying it, he would destroy it, so same endgame either way.

But it was 'company protocol' to have an independent reviewer assess the stability of the Turks once a year. It was a tick-the-box-exercise they all knew was a facade.

"All of my colleagues have a valuable skillset and different approach to situations which offers numerable approaches to situations. Favourite is subjective and not a true refelction of the true assessment of my colleagues' talents."

Another pointed look to Veld, who was too busy looking up at the ceiling and counting the tiles. Or maybe he was asleep? She wasn't sure. It wouldn't be the first time he lost interest in the company-diatribe.

Looking back to the polite lady, Freya shrugged and figured she would test if their commander was asleep or not.

"- but I like working with Reno. We understand each other, not to say my other colleagues don't, but we're the same age and joined at the same time. I know I can trust him not to judge me for my mistakes and he will help me clean up afterwards. I'd do the same for him. I have, and I will again. I trust him implicitly."