Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience!! <3 Here's the newest chapter!

Love, Luckycharms!

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After a decent night's sleep and a relatively decent morning as well, Thea made her way out to work the next day with a smile on her face, at least until she was stopped by Mrs. Karse. At first, Thea panicked a little bit, thinking that Mrs. Karse knew she had been out late the night before and that she was going to get in trouble for it. However, from the rather calm looking expression on her face, Thea figured it was something else. "Good morning, Thea," the woman started. "You had a few phone calls yesterday, I'm assuming they were birthday wishes."

"Oh," Thea felt an excitement well up in her as Mrs. Karse handed her a note paper, knowing the calls were certainly from her friends and family. Though they had all already sent her cards and letters that she hadn't yet had a chance to respond to, knowing they called as well made her extremely happy. "I took down the numbers, you're welcome to use the phone in my office to call them back."

"Thank you, Mrs. Karse," Thea said. "I'll try my best to call them during my lunch break today but if that's not possible, I'll borrow your phone."

"Good, good," the woman said. "Have a good day."

As she had hoped, Thea did manage to get a chance to call them during her lunch break. Thankfully, Milo had a phone in his office, so after letting him head out for the cafeteria without her, she pulled the phone with its long wire to her desk to make the calls.

She recognized all the numbers. Her home, Laila... and Theus' shop. It was the last number on the list but despite that, Thea felt the need to call him first.

She hadn't talked directly to him since she left for the Capital and despite their falling out, she missed him the most. Her mother would update her on his affairs every time she called, and she was sure that her mother updated him on hers too, but obviously that was not the same.

And despite everything, she wanted to talk to him.

So she called him first.

"Abureth Town Mechanics, how can I help you?" A deep voice answered when she called. It wasn't her brother, but she recognized the owner of the voice immediately. "Hi Rek," she said. "It's me, Thea."

There was a pause before he spoke up again. "Thea," there was happiness in his voice and Thea smiled. Rek was also a Crow, but he was one of the good ones and a close friend of her brothers. Really, Rek was one of the few Aburethian Crow that Thea actually liked, aside from her brother, of course. "It's been a while, how are you?"

"I'm well thanks, it's been a big change but it's been going well... is my brother around?"

"That's good to hear... but yeah, let me get him, hold on." Thea heard him set down the phone and her heart raced a little when Rek began calling out to Theus. Within moment's, she heard her brother's comforting voice. "Hello?"

"Brother," Thea said, maybe a little too quickly. "It's me."

Her brother was silent for a moment before he let out a soft breath which she heard through the receiver. "I called yesterday to wish you, but you weren't at the hostel."

"Yeah... the team got me dinner right after work, so I didn't get home till very late."

"Oh... well, happy belated birthday."

"Thank you."

"I'm assuming you had a good time?"

"I did," she said, confidently. "Everyone here is really kind to me, so you don't need to worry at all... and just as Captain Brayne promised, the General really does seem like a good person." He didn't respond to that, so Thea continued. "And I made some new friends... there's Luana, who's an Elorian though she works as a State Soldier–"

"An Elorian state soldier? Who's a woman?"

"I know, it's insane," she continued with a little laugh. "I didn't really think I could trust her at first, but she's incredibly friendly and has been taking good care of me. I'm sure 'ma told you but I was sick for a bit and she visited often and brought me medication and soup... she's wonderful."

"Hmm," was his response. Thea knew that despite only just hearing about Luana, he didn't trust her, but that was expected. It was unsurprising for a Crow to not trust an Elorian who was also a State Soldier as she was literally one of the people the Crows were fighting against. So Thea moved on, finding herself beginning to blabber. "Then there's Milo," she continued. "He's one of the smartest boys I've ever met... almost as smart as you, really... and he's Aiverian but he's got brown eyes. Pretty surprising, right?"

"It happens," Theus responded, and she could hear him sounding like the edge to his tone was fading, at least a little. "Aiverians without the green eyes are often treated nearly as badly as Elorians are," he added. "Is it the same for him?"

Thea hesitated.

She knew that Milo was treated differently... after all, she saw the looks he got and sometimes even heard soldiers mocking him behind his back. But she never thought to ask Milo about his experiences, and suddenly she felt a little bad about it. "I don't really know," she said. "I mean, people look at him differently, but I haven't paid much attention otherwise."

"They're usually treated as second class," her brother continued, "they're treated as less than because Aiverians think their blood is inferior. It's actually one of the reasons why many of them side with the Crows rather than the State... not that they're treated much better by the Elorians."

"Well, from the looks of things, the team is good to Milo. The team treats him well and his work is really valued by the General... and I've seen Milo work, he's amazing."

"Hmm."

"So how are things with you?" Thea then asked, trying to change the topic again. "Is the shop busy?"

"The usual. How about you? Is your work keeping you busy? Have you spoken to any prisoners of interest yet?"

Thea knew well that she couldn't exactly tell him all the details, though she really wanted to, so she decided to keep it vague. "All of them are interesting, though a few of them stick out a little more than others."

"Have you passed on any of their secrets to the General?"

"Nothing that I feel is too important," she said, though she knew her brother was being a little snarky with that question. "But to be honest, no one has really said anything to me that would be considered that important anyways."

"But you do share some of it?"

"That's my job, Brother," she said, feeling a little nervousness rush through her. "And I don't want to fight with you about it, so let's drop that... Besides, I have to call a few other people before my lunch break is over. So I'll talk to you later?"

"Right," he simply said, making Thea think that maybe he too didn't want to fight with her. "Take care... and be safe."

Thea smiled into the receiver. "I will."

After hanging up, she let out a deep breath. Though she was happy she had a chance to speak to her brother, this seemed to just be another cruel reminder that he was still no longer the brother she once had. They had both changed... and it made her a little sad.

After meeting with all of the men once more today, she found herself leaving feeling more stressed out. Vetori had, unsurprisingly, asked her again if she would send his message to his family. Thea still didn't have an answer for him, of course, but she knew what the right thing to say to him would be.

It would be no.

If she wanted to be honest with her team and especially if she wanted to ensure that she didn't break General Killian's trust, the answer was no. And she felt that way now more than ever. After spending more time with them and really seeing that they were, as the General had said to her, normal human beings, she was beginning to trust them more.

She really didn't want to break their trust in her.

But all of this was so much harder to deal with than she had anticipated, mostly because she wanted to help Vetori as well.

She was sitting silently in Milo's office, tapping the pen that Aari had given her against her notebook while thinking deeply about what it was that she could do. Soon however, Milo moved his chair next to her desk and sat with her, the same way he always did when he thought she was stressed. "You seem concerned about something, what is it?"

She looked at him with a smile, especially seeing as he was looking back at her with a hint of worry. She wanted to talk to him about this, but part of her was scared that he'd say what she didn't want to hear. She was scared that he'd say she shouldn't help him.

But who else could she really talk to? Milo was here to help her, right?

So after another moment of contemplation, she sighed. "One of the prisoners... Vetori... asked me to help him with something."

He waited for her to continue.

"He asked me to... send a message to his family."

Milo raised his brows before leaning back in his seat and adjusting his glasses. "Hmm, that is certainly a predicament."

"I've been thinking about it for some time now... I don't really know what to do."

"Well, there are two options," Milo said, looking back at her. "The first is you be honest and say that you can't. The second is that you are dishonest and say that you can, but use that as an opportunity to get more information from him. Of course the second option isn't really that good of an option because you'd be burning a bridge that you've developed with him when he finds out you never intended on going. But the first option may also upset him enough to make him stop cooperating."

Thea hesitated. "What about the third option? To... actually go speak to his family."

Milo blinked a couple times before shaking his head. "That's not an option, Thea," he said, adjusting his round specs. "That would be going against the confidentiality aspect of your contract... and if people were to find out, it's the General who would get into a lot of trouble."

"Really?"

"Of course," he said. "I mean, you'd probably be fired too but the General has a reputation to maintain. If someone under him were to disclose confidential information to anyone who wasn't meant to hear it... it could hurt him... bad."

Thea nodded slowly. She certainly didn't want that. "So two options."

He nodded too. "You don't really seem like you would want to break the trust of these men."

She shook her head.

"Well, then it's simple," he said. "Let him know that you'd love to help him, but you can't."

"Yeah," Thea said. "I guess it really is simple."

But no, it really wasn't.

After meeting with the General that afternoon to fill him in on everything except for Vetori's request, Thea made her way back to Milo's office in a bit of a rush, still thinking deeply about what she was going to do. However, despite being deep in thought, she heard someone call out to her just as she reached Milo's office.

When she turned, she immediately regretted it, seeing a small group of Aiverian boys walking up to her and knowing damn well what this could be about. Her eyes darted from face to face, trying to see if she recognized them, but only one of them seemed remotely familiar, and even his name she didn't know.

"Phyl was right," the one she sort of recognized said. "Look at you... we all knew you really were a muddy Crow."

Thea's eyes narrowed and though her immediate thought was to turn and walk away as the other men laughed, she held her ground, wanting instead to snap at them for calling her that.

A muddy Crow... a derogatory name used when accusing Elorians of trying to be like Aiverians. A black haired crow who was trying to be brown.

"Who are you?"

"You don't remember me?" the man said when he reached her. "Kei's party? You were all over me then."

Horrified and certainly knowing that that wasn't true, she found herself glowering. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know she used to chase after Adrien Karney," he said, turning to his friends, emphasizing his last name and looking pleased when his friends started snorting in disbelief. "Everyone knew she was a muddy Crow since then... now look at you, here working for the State."

She was going to argue, to tell him to back off, but when she opened her mouth, her voice didn't come out and her shaking hands seemed to take over all of her focus as she tried to stop them. When that didn't work, she decided instead to swallow back her frustration and turned to leave. This however seemed to be a struggle in itself when the man grabbed her arm.

Instantly, she pulled her arm away and looked at him with a glare. "Please don't touch me."

"Stop it, Thea," the man smirked at her. "We know how you really are. No need to pretend."

Not again. She thought, the shaking of her hands worsening though she was trying so hard to hide it by hugging her notebook tightly. "I don't know who you are, so stop trying to mess with me, we're adults."

To that, he laughed. "Mess with you?" he asked. "Is that what you think I'm doing? No, no, I just want to be friends. We love muddy Crows here."

She wanted to tell him that she certainly didn't want that, but the look on his face made her choke on her words for some reason.

He looked at her with a look of superiority... like he knew he was better than her... like she was some sort of insect. "You know, everyone knew you were muddy, but we never imagined you to be the kind of girl who would completely turn on her people and come work for the State. If Adrien had known that before then maybe things wouldn't have ended so badly between you two."

She took a breath. It was shaky, which she hated. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "I'm not turning against my people."

"Phyl looked into what you're doing here since we were curious, Thea," he responded, still smirking. "Interviewing Crows under the guise of helping them? But turning the information in to the General? Sounds like betraying your own people to me."

Thea scowled, getting angry now, though that really didn't help the shaking. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I can totally see that General of yours wanting something like that, though. He turned against his people too, right? They say his betrayal is the reason we won the Civil War, after all... how else could a half-breed like him be in such a high position?"

Though Thea didn't want to take his words seriously, she realized that all of the recent events had caused her to forget that part about the General. No matter how much she disliked this man in front of her, she knew what he was saying was true.

The General was a traitor.

Or so everyone says.

So was she... the same?

Though the more she thought about it, the more she realized she was. She knew she was. She always knew... the whole point of this job of hers was to potentially turn on her people.

So she could be called a traitor too.

No.

She wasn't.

She wouldn't allow anyone to call her that because she wasn't a traitor. She wanted to help her people, not hurt them!

However, before she could respond, she heard the door to Milo's office click open. When she looked, she saw Milo looking from her to the man in front of her.

"Milo," the man said with a smile filled with contempt. "Of course you'd be working with Thea... you're two peas in a pod."

"I thought I heard you out here, Railand... I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to take Thea, we have some work to do before we wrap things up for the day."

"Of course, take her," the man she now knew was Railand stepped back. "I'm done with her for now." He then reached over and, rather gently, ran his fingers through Thea's hair, sending a shiver through her and for a second, just a second, she blanked. "You know, it was better short."

Her vision became blurry and her breathing hastened.

As soon as she could and still without thinking, she stepped away from him, trying to create as much distance between them as possible, but proceeded to bump hard into Milo, her head smashing into his chin.

The sight of that made Railand laugh. "I'm only being honest, Thea," he said. "No need to get so worked up."

Thea tried to control her breathing before she stepped away from Milo and began walking towards the door, an anger and frustration and fear filling her.

She wasn't going against her people. No. She wasn't.

"See you around," he called after her before Milo shut the door on him.

Thea dropped her notebook on her desk aggressively before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm assuming he's not your friend?" Milo asked, rubbing his chin with the back of his hand.

"No," she said firmly, though his words were still echoing in her mind, the feeling of his fingers so close to her making her shudder. "I don't even know... the guy... I mean, he went to the... same university as me... but I didn't know him!" She then turned to face Milo. "And sorry... about your chin."

Milo chuckled. "Well, he is pretty terrible."

Thea was pacing now, a lot of thoughts infiltrating her mind. This stupid Railand guy... and Phyl looking into her work... and Adrien and Vetori and traitors and all of it swirling around in a confusing mess, and to make it worse, her hands were still shaking. "He... knows someone who pretty much... tormented me while I was there. And now it looks like... he wants to continue it here."

"Sounds about right," Milo said, walking over to her. He clearly noticed her restlessness and her struggle to speak properly, certainly finding it unusual. After a moment of just looking at her, he continued to speak. "He hasn't been very kind to me either."

His words distracted her for just a moment as she remembered what her brother had said about people like Milo. She looked at him. "Does he... is it your eyes?"

Milo smiled but nodded, looking to seem satisfied that he had distracted her as he began organizing some of his things. "They think it bothers me... but it really doesn't. I've been dealing with the insults and the bullies since I was a child so I'm used to most of it already."

Thea frowned before letting out a breath. "That's not fair," she said. "You shouldn't have had to feel the need to 'get used to it.' It's not right."

"You don't need to worry about me," he smiled. "Frankly, I find them more pathetic than upsetting, seeing as we're grown adults and they still act like children. Besides, I know people like you and Luana can relate to me better than most people, but even still, I never had it as badly as some other people do... so I'll survive."

Though she found that he was completely right about the fact that the actions of those boys was pathetic... finding those words to calm her immensely, she still believed it wasn't fair that he had to deal with that. Nevertheless, it was rather admirable that he was so strong, and for a moment, she was reminded of Rue.

Milo was, like Rue, another person who managed to stay strong despite the fact that the rest of the world seemed to want to tear them down. That was admirable, and Thea wished she could be like that. She wished that she could be strong too.

After a moment of thinking, she sighed again before walking over to Milo and taking his hand in hers. Her hands were not shaking as much any more and the warmth of Milo's hands was comforting. "They can all go fuck themselves for all we care, right? We'll keep doing what we think is right."

His brows rose at the words, seeing as it wasn't like Thea to curse like that, but he chuckled. "You can say that again."