Saviors

Prologue:

I sat in the middle of the pasture, the still-green hay whooshing silently in the breeze.  I allowed myself the luxury of a small smile.  Luxuries and smiles were hard to come by these days.  Problems?  Yeah, there were a lot of those happening lately.

I took a deep breath in, holding it, enjoying the sweet taste of Georgia in the mid-eighteen hundreds.  I opened my eyes to the beautiful nature around me, a pang of guilt in my heart.  In just three weeks' time this field and the surrounding town would be laid to waste in the wake of Sherman's army.  Not that I could warn anyone.

I let out the breath I was holding in a huff when the distinct sound of someone warping in behind me pulled from my peace.  "Lord, do you people even knock?"

I turn to see Leah's mocha eyes drilling daggers into me.  Not that I could take her seriously with her jet black hair curled and piled on top of her head and her short, curvy body buried beneath a mound of lace and petticoats.  "The bays are on lock down, Alexandra, how did you get here?"

If it wasn't for her threatening tone, I probably would have busted out laughing.  "Lee," I whined slightly, using her pet name to my advantage, "C'mon, you know I can't sit in front of those grey walls one more day.  I'm tired of this.  I liked it better when things were simple."

She sighed and slouched exhaustedly to the ground.  I twisted so I was facing her.  "Aye, I wish 'twas like it used to be," she whispered dreamily, faint Irish accent coming out strong as she struggled to hold down her emotions.

She just kept gazing off in the distance.  No one needed to say what we were both re-running through our minds.  We had been doing it since it happened.  Since everything went wrong...

I am not quite sure how it happened, but a single tear slipped down my cheek.  I wiped at it before she could take note of the weakness, "You remember to first day, Lee?"

She blinked to me, fighting tears, "Aye, you were so cocky Andi, until the instructor knocked you on your arse."

I laughed at the memory, a smile crossing my features.  The breeze blew a stray strand of copper hair from my pins and into my eyes.  I batted at it so I could see Leah clearly, "Yeah, well, I wasn't the one who ended up dropping a sword on his foot."

We both laughed.  It was so nice to hear her laugh, "You remember the day of our evaluation, Andi?"

I sobered immediately.  It was me, this time, that looked off dreamily, "Yeah...like it was yesterday."