Kogai

Razha and Elliv are on a security shift, conducting the hourly patrol of the commune perimeter. With the enemy’s recent escalation, this is even more crucial. The two of them walk along the old fence marking the edge of Krev’s property. Beyond its decaying wooden posts and boards is a drop of a few Length to a rocky outcropping.

The farm sits on a sort of raised platform of land from the plots around it. Its longest edge comprises a sheer drop off the mountain’s northern cliffs, and its other sides form a wedge where two shorter cliffs line its edges and converge at the level ground where the gravel path meets the dirt road. And dense patches of overgrown woods flank the entrance road out to the drop off on either side.

The only easy entrance is through that one choke point, where they keep a constant watch. An invader could climb up the sides of the platform, but first they would have to know to come here at all, they won’t likely go crawling about random farms without direction. Just in case they do, the perimeter patrol has a chance of spotting them. It’s the most well positioned and defensible basecamp Elliv’s ever stayed at.

Elliv looks out through the dense woods, spotting nothing out of the ordinary. He turns and looks back toward the farm, with Razha Koronova on his left. She always looks so damn impressive, walking through the tall grass in her long black coat, black rifle slung over her back, taller than him, long black braid blowing in the wind behind her. The sunlight gleams on the white tattoos on her brown skin, making her even more imposing. And she just looks so stoic all the time, never reacting, just being Razha. But that’s why they all love her, Elliv too. She inspires confidence, just like she tries to tell him to.

“Hey, Razha,” Elliv says.

“Yeah?”

“What kind of place did you grow up in?” he says.

“In the mountains, where else?” she says. “In a Kogai village, you know, rented land we were allowed to pretend was ours, the usual.”

“Only our people lived there?”

“Yeah, so at least there was that. Still beats the Hel out of the city,” she says. “What about you?”

“Oh, I grew up in the capital.”

“Ah, are you southern Kogai? I thought you looked northern.”

“My family’s northern, actually. My grandparents lived out here, my parents went to the city for the university, but of course they ended up as poor laborers with no land. I was born and raised in Zhaar-zai district. I spent some summers up here, I mean, I know the mountains, but I’m not really from here.”

“I might have met you if I’d gone across the river and explored more. But I mostly stayed in the University district or around The Wall, the city’s so damn big. What was Zhaar-zai like?” Razha says.

“I mean, at least there were people like me around, but I’m sure it’s nothing like where you’re from.”

“Believe me, the res ain’t what you’re imagining. They don’t let us have any good land so food was often a problem. Of course the water’s all fuckin’ poison in Zintaia. We had all kinds of shortages of medicines and such. And sents loved to come check in on us, see that we weren’t remembering our culture too fondly. And of course there was the ever present fear that they’d find black death underneath our land and we’d lose it again.”

“Sorry,” Elliv says. “It’s just, at least you have some kind of connection to our culture, you know? I mostly know the culture of the city.”

“Well, you’re home now. It’s never too late to connect to what should’ve been yours all along,” Razha says.

“How can I do that?”

Razha responds in the Kogai language, but Elliv doesn’t completely understand.

“I’m sorry, I only know a little Kogai, and mostly southern dialect,” Elliv says.

“Well I could teach you, if you want, that’s a big way to connect with our culture,” she says.

“I’d like that,” he says. “It seems like you know our culture well.”

“I guess it’s really important to me. The Kogai ways are my own, at least I strive for that, I dunno how well I’m living up.”

“Pretty damn well, you’re like a changeling warrior right out of the sagas,” Elliv says. “Way better Kogai than me. I joined the military because I thought being a warrior would let me reconnect with our ancestors or something. But that was foolish, I only betrayed our people.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it Elliv, the Empire deceives lots of people. And you’re here now, after all. Once you set your past to the flame it didn’t matter. All I see in you is the warrior you wanted to be, fighting for what’s right,” Razha says.

“Well that’s really great to hear from you,” Elliv says. “I still feel like an outsider, though, no matter how long I live up here. I want it to feel like home. But I’m still not from here. It feels like it’s not mine to claim.”

She stops and looks at him. “It sure as Hel is yours. You care more about this place than a lot of people from here. You’re one of us, I don’t care what any flatlander thinks, you’re my brother, Elliv.”

“That really means a lot to me, sister.” He stops suddenly, looking up at the eastern sky. “Oh fuck.” They both see the tiny “V” flying near the distant horizon.

“Cellar!” Razha says. She takes off running toward the house. Elliv catches up and grabs her coat, slowing her down.

“Don’t run, don’t look panicked. From up there we’re just little dots walking about our farm, but little dots running from the sight of an airship is suspicious,” Elliv says.