Leadership

After nightfall, most of the crew has gone to bed. Nadia and Zal are on security. Razha sits alone, keeping the fire burning as she oils Reverie’s loading lever mechanism. She puts another drop of oil on her cloth and takes extra care to clean the nodes that link the chamber to the discordium crystal--any disruption in that connection could cause a spell to fail.

Somebody walks in front of her, casting a shadow on her work for a moment. She doesn’t look up at them, if they needed her they would say so. They sit next to her. She keeps her focus on what she’s doing--if they ain’t talking they probably don’t want her to either. She hears the mechanism of another breech-loading rifle’s chamber opening up. If it was some Imperial assassin they would have already slit her throat and been on their way.

“Hey,” Elliv says.

She glances over. He’s cleaning and oiling his rifle too. It’s simply a mundane weapon but it’s a perfectly good one. And he’s a damned good shot, even if she uses Reverie he can shoot more accurately than her on average.

“Comrade,” she says.

“You fuck with that gun every night, even if you don’t fire it all day,” he says.

“It’s a ritual.”

“Is that the secret of Razha Koronova, a solid daily routine?”

“One of them.”

The song of the cicadas starts to overpower the crackling of the fire. She reaches for another log without looking up and drops it onto the stack. Sparks fly up and startle the lightning bugs, and they fly off and regroup. Above, the sky is black. It became overcast before sunset--Zal was disappointed.

“Hey, Razha,” Elliv says. “I just thought, maybe I could ask for your advice.”

“My...advice?”

“About the mission tomorrow. Like, I met with the boys, and, I think we have some good ideas, but, also it’s strange that everyone seems to be looking to me like the leader of the operation or something.”

“I’m not surprised. I think a lot of people look up to you, you have such a confident energy,” Razha says. “Before an operation like this, they’re going to seek out that kind of strength to lean on, so they can find their own confidence.”

“I’ve just never really been in that position, I’ve always followed somebody else I guess,” Elliv says.

“Just like your comrades are trying to follow you now. It comes with experience,” Razha says.

“Yeah, I guess I’m not used to that.”

“You’ll be fine, Elliv, you’re a capable warrior, and you have a great cadre here. You’ve got Maris, incredibly dependable and resilient. You’ve got Ketha, if Ketha thinks of something that sounds crazy you should definitely do it. Just like I’ve got Nadia and Zal. You’re in a collective now, not the military. We don’t have leaders. Don’t dwell too much on what you’re capable of as an individual, but think of what y’all can do together. Even if they need you to be all strong and confident, you’re still allowed to lean on them too. In fact you have to.”

“You understand these things so well Razha, because you’re a good leader, whether you admit it or not,” Elliv says.

“Nah, I’m just one of many, one little wasp in a swarm, that’s all,” Razha says.

“Oh, I don’t think anyone in this camp sees it that way. We look up to you, you know.” Elliv closes his chamber. “But thanks a lot for talking to me, comrade.”

“Anytime you need. Now you should rest up and not make Ketha sleep alone the night before a mission.”