Modern Inheritance: Flag (One Word Prompt Short)
(A/N: Arya’s original Varden squad lasted for about 12 years, with boot camp and specialized training interspersed with combat in the first two years or so. I’ve always wanted to do stories about the ‘squaddies,’ but I’ve never been able to put them on paper. But they’re always in the back of my mind with MIC.)
Flag
It was one of those things that she never explained to anyone, but somehow, everyone knew not to question it.
Arya only brought it out after she participated in a sabotage run or a major victory. Tied to whatever stick or pole available, the haggard flag would be planted outside her tent for a day before disappearing again. When passing by it the elf would give it a smart human salute, and would stand a vigil at dawn and dusk when it was on display. Occasionally members of the Varden who knew of its significance would come by to pay their respects and quietly murmur with Arya over hardwon beers. No one disturbed them when they came, and when they left they always touched the flag with gentle reverence.
The cotton bunting was somewhat yellowed with age, the edges frayed and the end ragged and torn. There were holes that wind flitted through that looked suspiciously like bullet wounds, one corner charred orange and brown. The pole edge had rusted stains the shape of gripping fingers where bloodied hands had raised it in triumph.
The white dragon still stood tall, the rose in its claws faded yet not forgotten while its blade still stabbed into the royal purple field. Below, a hand painted emblem of a shield where a mountain cat and wolf were locked in an endless chase, a sword the only thing separating the two beasts. The phrase “Now You See Us…” curved around the bottom of the crest, while 1st SPECIAL TACTICS AND RECON DIVISION arced above it.
No matter the weather, the flag never changed, the cloth now steeped in magic and preserved till the end of time in quiet remembrance.
If anyone looked through Arya’s collection of pictures and fairiths they would have seen the flag as it started its long journey. The group of ten human men and youths, joined by a young elf woman, all beaming while holding up the crisp new flag and bearing patches of the emblem proudly on their shoulders. The pictures losing men as the years went on. The final taken decades ago, a dark skinned elderly man with a streak of his tightly curled white hair dyed startlingly blue standing beside Arya, arms slung over each other’s shoulders. They held the tattered flag together one last time, smiling just as broadly and just as proudly as they had all those years before.
The unit emblem was lost to time, only found in two places in the Varden. On a faded patch sewn to the inside of Arya spidersilk combat jacket, and on that tattered, honored flag.
