The Phoenix & The Hydra

The Outpost

The night was cool and quiet. Stars sparkled in the clear sky and the lights of the nearby village flickered over the horizon.
Marami yawned, she had been on shift for hours, but pushed the tiredness aside. Despite everything seeming calm, they were still in the middle of a conflict that could easily turn into war. She straightened up and searched for any sign of intruders.
She heard the steps behind her, but didn't move.
Then two hands suddenly covered her eyes.
"Who am I?"a fake voice asked her from behind.
Marami sighed.
"If I didn't know who you are, you'd be dead now", she replied and it was the truth. No one was able to sneak up on her. She pulled the fingers from her face, before turning around.
Another guard faces her. Perfect uniform, the hair strictly braided and a bright smile on her lips. Marami really thought, Amra was one of the happiest and positive persons she had ever come to know and also the most beautiful. Luckily she was her girlfriend.
Shortly she checked her surroundings, but they were alone on that part of the wall, so she bent over for a kiss.

Amra folded her hands behind Marami's neck and smiled even brighter.
"Good morning to you too", she said very close to her face.
"Morning already?", Marami had lost track of time while standing watch, but the night was still black and didn't show a sign of dawn.
"Yes, 3 am. I just stood up. Shift change."
Marami moaned looked at the sprinkled sky above her for a second. She would rather face the tiredness for some more hours if that meant to spent time with her love.
"She's really gonna go through with this, isn't she?"
Now the smile on Amra's face faded. She stepped on to the railing and leaned her forearms on it.
"Looks like it. She made sure we are never on duty at the same time."
"Yes, but this has been going on two weeks now. It's ridiculous".
Her girlfriend laughed.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have slept with your boss in the first place."
Marami folded her arms offensively.

"That was months ago! And it was over months ago, long before I started seeing you, you weren't even stationed here yet at that time. It just wasn't..." she searched for the right words, "official yet."
"But instead of telling her you moved forward into a new relationship, you let it slide and her catch us having sex. Sorry, but I'd be pissed too, if you did that to me. She went easy on us with separate shifts. She easily could have sent us two different parts of the realm."
"I know. You are right."
It was a very difficult situation. For a few weeks half a year ago she had started a relationship with general Tamre, more out of curiosity than actual feelings. After only a month they stopped seeing each other, but never exactly broke up. Now Marami had to pay for that.
But she understood the general. She had felt real love for her, as she had told her many times and now had to watch the girl of her dreams walking into the sunset with someone else. Must hurt like a bitch.
They two women were so in thoughts, they didn't hear a guard coming up the ladder. He looked from one to the other, shook his head and while passing by, he whispered:
"If the General sees you together, you are dead."
The man walked over to his post without another word.
"He is right. Get out of here before the rest of the morning shift is here", Amra rushed her, kissed her on the forehead and basically pushed her down the latter.
When Marami hesitated, she made wild hand gestures.
"Go! I come to you later, when I see an opening. Go!"

With another sigh, the other woman obliged and made her way through the outpost.
It wasn't big, one of many out here on the dormant front. Build in a hurry and home to about two thousand men and two hundred riders, plus workers, doctors, slaves and other personal that was needed to keep this place from falling apart.
It had rained a lot the last days and the ground had turned into one big puddle of mud. With every step it splashed up to her knees and soaked her boots.
The quarters were all close to each other, but as part of their punishment, the general had re-ordered Marami and Amra, so they were as far apart as possible. Although she understood the woman, that move was just childish.
On her way to her room she didn't look anyone in the eye and ignored all the whispers that arose, as soon as she passed by.
Once undressed and wrapped in her blanket, listening to the noise from outside, she wondered again what had been worse. Being stigmatized as a cheater or having to live apart from Amra.
When she was still seeing Tamre, nobody said a word. She was the general after all and it was no secret that she preferred women. Also when Marami came out, right at the beginning of her carrier, when the approaches from men just annoyed her, it wasn't a problem either. Sure, sometimes people would make jokes about it, but she never cared.