The Little Crow

Chapter Four - [The Job]

When the bell on the door to his shop jingled, almost out of instinct Theus called out, "hey. Can I help you?" He didn't look up from under the hood of the vehicle he was working on, his hands covered in grease and oil and dirt.

"Theus?" A familiar voice called. It was one of their neighbors. "There's a bit of a commotion at your place right now."

Theus straightened himself up before leaning back a little, looking at the older man from around the other cars. His eyes narrowed a little. "What?"

"Apparently some giant State Officer came and took Thi," he added. "In a Rolls Royce... weirdly enough."

Theus thought he must have not heard the man right. Pulling a dirty rag out from his pockets he wiped his hands as he began walking towards the man. "What? A State Officer?"

"Your mother's a wreck... she said the man said he just wanted to talk to your sister, but your mother is worried nonetheless. I came because I thought you should go home and check on her."

As he finally processed the words coming out of the man's mouth, Theus felt his throat dry up and his mind was suddenly dizzy with anger.

The State had taken his sister?

The General watched as the defensiveness that Theavi previously held began to fade almost instantly. Her shoulders relaxed, her somewhat aggressive stare vanished and even her shaking began to subside, at least a little bit.

"Hire me?" The girl asked, suddenly seeming younger now that she didn't look like she wanted to hit him.

He was largely impressed by her ability to stand up for her thoughts with such aggression, even if it was most likely a mask to cover up her fear, made quite evident by her shaking hands. Nine times out of ten, when scholars, politicians or even Crows are confronted by the State Military, they would cower and deny everything in the hopes of staying alive.

This girl was clearly different.

However, now that she knew the General wasn't here to end her life, he watched as her defenses crumbled, making her look almost like a different person. Her brows, no longer furrowed, made her look gentler, and she even looked to suddenly be taking up less space in the car... like she was no longer trying to look bigger than she actually was.

Though the General had no intention of making her think that he was going to kill her, it seemed that her assumption had worked in his favour. He was seeming to get to know her better than he ever would have in a simple interview.

She has two sides to her, he thought as she watched her.

The General also reflected on the fact that she was consistent with her views and didn't succumb to authority. She didn't care that he was the General of the Aiverian Army and a high ranking state official... not if she felt threatened.

All of this was good.

"Yes," he responded. "I want to hire you."

"For what?"

General Killian lifted up the thick folder with her thesis and revealed another one underneath it. Sometimes, the General hated all the folders he had to deal with, but he had to admit that it was a lot easier to pick up a folder than it was to pick up an ungodly amount of paper.

He reached out and handed the much thinner folder to her. This one wasn't the simple plastic portfolio folder that Captain Brayne had placed all of her information in. Instead, this one was a rather elegant, black leather portfolio that was rimmed with gold accents and the Aiverian State's seal, a stag with perfectly symmetrical horns and vines encircling around it, embossed onto the center of it in gold. "For you," General Killian said when she didn't take it from him.