Brant sat on the porch steps early the next morning, unfazed by the nippy morning air. With his hands folded in his lap, he relaxed there, deep in thought.

He snapped to attention when the doorknob clicked behind him, and then the entryway swung open, revealing Keira's face. He nodded to acknowledge her, but said nothing.

"Hey." she said softly, almost in a whisper. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. "You're up early."

Brant shrugged. "So are you. Did you sleep well?"

"I did." she replied as she took a seat on the step beside him, "Thanks for asking."

"No problem." he said, frowning as her cold fingers wrapped around his exposed bicep. He met her green-eyed gaze inquisitively.

"I'm cold." Keira answered as she draped his brawny arm around herself, patting his hand to rest on her shoulder. She smiled up at him before resting her head on him.

"I'm unsure if I should point out, a more efficient solution would be to go back inside."

Keira giggled. "You're warm enough."

Brant looked down at her face with an undecided smile, his eyes darting over her features. "Well, in that case, make yourself comfortable."

"Oh, I already have." she replied before extending her neck to kiss his cheek.

His face reddened slightly, and his eyebrow raised. "What...was that for?"

"Consider that an...apology. I haven't been very nice to you up to now, and that needs to change."

Brant shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to it."

"Well, you can get used to better, can't you?"

After a pause, he chuckled. "I suppose I can."

Keira cleared her throat. "Now, I was curious, would you be opposed to me tagging along? To Forbache? I'm not half bad with a sniper rifle, and I feel like you could use—"

"You don't need to sell me, Keira. Sure, you can tag along."

"Awesome! You won't regret it, I promise you."

Brant smirked. "I'd better not."

********************

"So, what'd you say this ship's called, again?" Brant asked Keira as they followed Aaron and Sila to the pancake-shaped vessel with the matte pearl finish.

"The Sand Dollar." she replied with a smirk, "Aaron's pride and joy."

Brant narrowed his eyes. "That's part of the name, or—"

"No, no. I mean, it wouldn't be an inaccurate subtitle, but no."

He nodded before casting a glance behind himself. Ace trailed immediately behind him, and a little farther back, Hannah, Baird, and Wendy strolled. Chariya had settled for a farewell back at the house.

Eventually, Aaron stopped beneath the ship's underbelly and unpocketed a remote. He pressed a yellow button, and the entry hatch swished open. The black rope dropped down and bounced once its descent ended.

Sila turned to the trio of farewell-wishers and bowed slightly. "Goodbye."

With more or less enthusiasm, they bid the robot adieu, and then it turned to Aaron, who hoisted it up into the ship. Metal footsteps echoed inside as Sila made its way down a hallway.

Aaron smiled broadly and gave a bear hug to Baird and Hannah in turn. Then Wendy approached him, and he paused for a second, uncertainty in his gaze.

In his moment of halting, Wendy leaned forward, closed her eyes, and pecked Aaron's cheek. "Don't be daft, and don't die."

Aaron somehow managed to extend his grin. His cheeks reddened. "I mean...I'm basically just the driver this time—"

"You heard what I said, now promise." she insisted.

"Alright, I promise. You're sure you don't wanna come?"

"I'm sure. I'm about as bloody stealthy as a raging guard dog."

A burst of laughter erupted from Aaron's lips. "That's...yeah, that's true."

"You're holding up the line here!" Ace called from the back.

Aaron smirked. "Oh, if you wanna go around me, by all means."

"Yeah, cool. Bye." Ace said dismissively as he brushed past Hannah and the others.

Baird and Hannah barely acknowledged the smoking man, and Wendy declined to reply at all. She watched Aaron's face as he leaned forward toward her cheek with his lips pooched.

"We're not there yet." she said, taking a step back.

He backed off and laid his hands on her shoulders instead. "Yet." he said enthusiastically. "I like that word."

Wendy squinted at him and bit her lip. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, but then closed it and swallowed. Then she finally stepped away.

After Keira received a round of farewells, Baird stepped up to Brant. He met his gaze for a few long seconds before shaking his hand. "I hope you're successful."

Brant nodded. "Me too, thanks."

Next, Wendy gave him a standard goodbye. Then finally, like a cherry on top, Hannah stepped up and beamed up at Brant. He met her gaze and couldn't help himself but smile back.

"Whelp, I hope ya have a safe trip."

"Thanks, so do I." he remarked, "Don't get mugged again."

Hannah giggled. "I'll try mah best."

Brant hesitated for a second, unsure how to conclude the farewell. Finally, he took her hand and kissed it. "Take care, Hannah."

The girl cleared her throat. Her other hand leapt up to her hair. "Will do, bye."

Brant stared at her for another second before gripping the black rope and ascending into the vessel above. He cast an appraising glance around the well-lit interior. Polished panels lined the walls and ceiling, forming an aesthetically pleasing contrast with the black linoleum flooring. Besides the lingering odor of cigarettes in the air, the ship possessed a fresh, minty scent.

Finally, Brant snapped to attention and followed Keira down a hallway, through a sliding door, and up a winding staircase. Once he cleared the top step, he glanced around the cockpit. Aaron and Sila sat in two maneuverable chairs on mini thrusters near the front of the cabin, while Ace sprawled out on one of two stationary chairs in a shallow pit in the floor.

He strolled along the walls, lined with colorful control panels, flashing buttons, and humming wires. One textured slider in particular drew his attention. He grasped it with his fingers, only to tighten his lips as it broke off in his hand. Brant glanced furtively back at Aaron and gingerly placed the broken slider back in its spot.

Aaron was too busy working at the switches on his control panel to notice, a gleeful grin spread across his face.

Sila turned to face Aaron. "Lovestruck."

He laughed and glanced at his robot. "Yep!"

Ace grunted and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Dude, calm down and get the blasted ship moving."

Aaron threw his head back and chortled. "Hyperventilating and piloting are not mutually exclusive."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Anyway, ETA, 1 o'clock. Four hour flight." Aaron said.

Keira leaned forward from where she sat beside Ace. "You can go faster than Speed Setting 2, can't you?"

"I can, but I'm not trying to call attention. This is a stealth mission, remember."

"That's true." she conceded.

Brant cleared his throat. "Well, it looks like there're only four seats in here, and I don't intend to tumble about the cabin when you start flying. Is there somewhere—"

Aaron nodded and looked back at Keira. "Yeah, sis, would you mind showing him to a room? Just pick a spare room, and that can be his quarters."

Brant nodded. "Thanks. I guess I could use a little more sleep, anyway."

"Yeah, follow me!" Keira said.

With that, Brant strolled back through the door after Keira and followed her down the staircase.

********************

An hour later, Chariya sat in a plump armchair with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed at the wily man at the appeals stand. At many moments in his presentation, she felt a compulsion to rise up and shout out against him from her VIP box, but she miraculously restrained herself.

The door to the VIP box creaked open, prompting the princess to peek around the back of her chair. Past the heads of Baird, Hannah, Wendy, and the ten Resistance soldiers stood a robust young man with gelled brown hair.

The man cleared his throat. "Mojestro, bovoñe Tychicus en tenuote a melevite."

Chariya squinted at the man for a second before glancing at Baird.

Baird cleared his throat. "He says Tychicus' time is almost up."

The princess turned back to the man. "So, are you saying it would be good for me to begin my descent now?"

He nodded. "Ya."

Chariya held up a hand to Baird as he opened his mouth. "I do believe I understood that." she remarked with a hint of a grin on her lips.

With that, the princess stepped through the doorway and descended the steps of the VIP box. She leaned against one of the pillars and waited while the man Tychicus finished his address. Once he'd scurried off, she strutted down the lengthy scarlet carpet, stepping right up to the appeals stand. She ascended the trio of steps and raised her gaze to meet the eyes of the Antapeñan Chancellor.

The olive-skinned man closed his eyes and bowed from where he stood. "Greetings, your highness. I must admit, your presence here is unexpected, though not unwelcome." he said with a thick accent.

Chariya smiled charismatically. "I very much appreciate your gracious welcome."

The chancellor nodded. "Well, you shall be given a maximum of fifteen minutes to make your appeal. No senator, or even myself, is allowed to interrupt or speak to you, unless directly engaged by you. Am I understood?"

"Indeed."

"Excellent. Your fifteen minutes start..." he began, slipping a chained watch out of his jacket pocket, "Now."

Chariya cleared her throat and sucked in a deep breath. She offered a brief, silent prayer before speaking. "Well, I shall begin with a question to you, good Chancellor. Would it be redundant for me to inform you of the splitting of the Alcontean Insurgent Alliance?"

The Chancellor leaned forward on his podium. "It would not be redundant. Your honor, I have never heard of such a thing."

"To summarize it briefly, Kemaria and Jasmidian, who founded the Alliance to begin with, came to the realization that Ferange in particular is unworthy to remain under our umbrella. As one of my valued soldiers has aptly described it, they have descended into 'daft barbarianism' in their warfare, endangering and taking the lives of innocent civilians in their quest for freedom. For that, and many other reasons, we disavowed Ferange's resistance force from our fellowship."

Chariya paused a moment to catch her breath and gauge her audience. Most leaned forward in their seats or at their stands with eyes fixed on her. Even one of the stenographers seated behind the Chancellor jerked his head and stared down at his blank sheet of paper and unextended pen with visible shock.

"So after disavowing Ferange, we felt compelled, in the pursuit of fairness, to analyze our other allies' conduct, and to our dismay, our findings were not pleasant. Commercia and Odego, for instance, proved unwilling to make necessary sacrifices on their own, and instead operated as leeches in our organization, consuming our resources and men without providing satisfactory exertion on their own. Grovenia, we discovered, had been falsifying their arms audits, to conceal their lack of contribution to our collective weapon stockpile." She paused and noticed a female senator whose lips twitched. "Do you have a question, Senator?"

"I do." the woman replied, "On what grounds do Kemaria and Jasmidian disqualify their comrades? Is there a hierarchy among you insurgents, or a central rule of some sort?"

"The answer most closely resembles the latter, Senator. In the beginning, we drew up a code of conduct, to which we held each of our allies up. Whether through hoarding, lack of transparency, or inhumane practices, none measured up, save for Kemaria and Jasmidian."

The senator nodded and scribbled something on the paper on her desk.

"So, with only those two nations left, the Alliance would be weak enough as it was, but even then, our troubles were not over. The members of Jasmidian's insurgence began to believe that Kemaria also was a leech in the organization, as our contribution to manpower is necessarily meager, due to our population. And so with that blow, the Alliance is dead, and I have no choice but to seek aid from foreign powers. Such is my purpose for appealing to you today."

The Chancellor met Chariya's eyes and pointed at his lips. When she nodded, he leaned forward and spoke. "So your Alliance has crumbled, and no allies remain for you. May I ask why you cannot simply carry out Kemaria's rebellion in isolation?"

"Why, Kemaria has few men, and even less resources. The very reason I was so adamant about creating this Alliance in the beginning, was a keen awareness of that fact. Our cause is worthy, though we are helpless. So that—"

"And how exactly is your cause worthy?"

Chariya bristled inwardly at the chancellor's speaking out of turn, but contained it. "Alconte's constant redistributions of the populace have weakened Kemaria's culture to the point of collapse. We have been diluted with foreigners, and families have been torn apart. I have hardly anything to add, save for a humble entreaty upon you to aid us."

The Chancellor nodded. "In that case, if your appeal is over, we shall use the remaining ten minutes for open discussion of the issue, and then cast a vote. If it becomes clear that more time is needed, the discussion shall be lengthened in fifteen-minute increments, up to a maximum of one hour. Let it begin now."

With that, the Senate Hall echoed with the voices of conversing senators, several dialogues bleeding together and creating one roaring whole, a sound akin to that of turbulent ocean waves. Chariya picked out what she could of the various discussions while rapidly tapping her foot.

********************

A/N: ...And they're off! I have to admit, it was fun while writing this to assemble the groups differently each time they set off, and I think Brant, Keira, Aaron, Ace, and Sila are an...interesting ensemble. Do you? 😂

Anyway, if you enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to vote and comment. It really helps me out. 😁

Okay, so, I asked last time who your updated favorite character was, so now I'd like to know, what's your favorite character dynamic? I believe I asked this also in the Iron Hallway, but to be fair, we've got...two completely new characters? (Brant and Ace) And then I don't think anyone can fairly say Chariya even counted last time, since she spoke only once or twice in the whole book. Anyway, interpret that question as you will, and I'll wait to see your responses. 😄

And for a random question: What'd be the top item on your bucket list?

(Hmm, for me...get a job? 😝 Nah, I'm kidding. I really haven't thought that through myself. I guess it'd be between releasing an album someday, getting married, or having a kid, though that last one is obviously linked to number two. Maybe I should settle on "I don't know" myself. I haven't really thought about it.)

Well, that's it for me for now! I've got some reading of my own to do, so I'd better scram. Have an awesome next six days, and I hope to catch you next Friday! God bless.