"You all can come out. It is me." Sagiri said, breaking through the Tatani defence lines. He knew very well the men hiding in perfect camouflage in the dunes. To an outsider, they could seem perfect, but he knew their positions and didn’t even have to listen to their heartbeats.

Tinka stepped out with a dozen men crawling out beside him. Sagiri’s squad caught up just as quickly. They left the outskirts of Boni soon after Sagiri, and they ate. They told the ladies they were going on ahead to see sagiri off at the border. After Gavina promised to challenge him again, the two teams finally separated, or at least that is what they thought until they reached the border, and sagiri called for someone who had been following them to come out.

Just like on the Tatani mission, Lira must have followed. Well, she was not in the Kafika 1 squad, so it was only natural that she could make an independent decision.

"Must you follow me everywhere?" Sagiri asked.

"I want to help to repay my debt." She said as if that explained it all, and sagiri sighed and kneaded his eyebrows.

"You already paid for the Tatani mission. Consider us even. Now, can you go back?" Sagiri asked, and the girl did not even act like she was leaving, she said.

"No."

A solid no.

"Do you wish to die or something?" Sagiri asked, and Lira shook her head.

"I have to come with you." She said, and everyone sighed.

"Why?" Sagiri asked.

Deep down, he knew why. Well, he thought he knew. Lira was the other reason he needed koru. She had something she was not supposed to, and it made Sagiri uneasy. He still felt like they were opposites, yet she had protected him, and then he had seen it. The masters of whispers helped make a tent from branches back then. He went to check on Lira when she woke up while the master of whispers was changing her bandages to her. Well, she was not completely naked, but he had seen something on her.

"What is that?!" Sagiri gritted those three words as if they pained him. He crossed the distance in a second. His hand was wrapped around Lira in a vice grip, preventing her from covering her top body.

"What?" she panicked, all shreds of embarrassment leaving her body like in a flash. Well, she had learnt that men and women should not see or touch each other unless married, but it did not look like sagiri was being perverted, but pissed. Her eyes snapped down to see what she was being held prisoner for, as the hairs on her back stood in fear. She now knew better than to get on the wrong side of Sagiri. His voice was nothing short of a threat, as if she were hiding something.

Right where the assassin had cut her, and another had kicked her skin had turned an ugly dark purple. But I knew that was not what he was talking about. In between the purple, a harsher shape was taking shape. What appeared to be some sort of incomplete talons and claws was taking shape harshly in the purple. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"I don’t know, I have never seen that in my life, I wasn’t born with it, maybe the assassins broke something," she panicked, staring at the two sheets of purple while her hands trembled. She looked up at Sagiri, and his eyes were burning into the bruise. The flames in his pupils burned harder, almost molting into lava. Danger lay in those eyes. Sagiri could feel no lies coming from her, and her heartbeat was stable. He could also perceive her fear.

The tattoo or marking or whatever was on her body scratched a certain part of Sagiri’s memory, but he could not quite put a finger on it. An uneasy feeling he could not quite get rid of. Sagiri, however, quickly realized his mistake and unhand her. With trembling hands, she pulled her upper shirt down over her wound. Only then did he snap his eyes back to his normal flames. The tattoo disappeared and reappeared again and again, and Sagiri could not look away easily, as if he wanted some answers. blinked a couple of times before shutting them for a second. He took a step from the bed and turned around, his back rigid.

"Forgive my indecency." Is all he said in a curt voice. He didn’t turn around once as he left through the door.

"What just happened?!" he could hear her wonder even as he walked away.

"What a domineering suitor." The woman nursing her cheered, clearly misunderstanding the whole exchange. "You should tell your parents to prepare Kaliwa."

"Let’s make sure you are as straight as an arrow for your wedding," she added.

"I don’t have anywhere else to go." She answered, looking a bit sad at Sagiri. Well, she could go back to the war school academy. Sagiri understood she did not have a home, but was she really going to use that when she could go back to college? Was she learning the art of emotional manipulation?

"Fine, suit yourself. Just don’t get in my way." Sagiri sighed, giving in.

Her earlier sad facade dropped, or was it genuine? She smiled from ear to ear and ran up to Sagiri, looking as if she had earned some victory.

"Really?" She twirled a braid of her hair.

"Only this once. Don’t make me regret it." Sagiri said, but he knew he felt pity for her somehow. She was just a lost girl raised in a lab with no clan, family, or friends.

She squealed loudly and jumped around, causing everyone to cover their ears. Sagiri’s squad had been watching the exchange happen, and they clearly did not know what to say. They had tried to ignore and avoid the girl, but she was unavoidable.

Without wasting time, Sagiri had led the squad into the south into the barren lands and leading into the outskirts of the new Tatani village. The journey took a whole day and half the night at full speed to finally touch the outskirts of New Tatani.

"Wait here. I need to talk to my fighters. Join me when they step out." Sagiri said before going ahead.

"Your fighters?" Kiuga taunted.

"You are finally acting like a chief," Kaka said in uproar.

"I am not their chief. I am just responsible for them for now." Sagiri tried to defend himself, but he could tell there was no convincing anyone.

"Whatever. Don’t move until they come out." Sagiri said before covering the remaining distance to a huge dune.