"Maybe you won't want it to. You finally have the opportunity to torment young recruits...and Oisea is very beautiful."
Then again, she thought all of the cities were beautiful.
Vera sipped the punch and then cradled her glass between her hands as he spoke. There were reasons behind every assignment. She learned that early on. When she was bitter about being treated like a glorified bodyguard in Trone, Captain Agrippa, who was yet to be a Captain, knocked her in the head for complaining. It wasn't the way of the Riders to waste what one has, he'd said. Perhaps Eragos needed to quiet himself in Oisea and the reasoning for him being placed there was that simple - too many fights. Or maybe the Captain had other intentions, especially if he was sending Eragos with Walkers. It wasn't terribly common to train Walkers outside of Simanel unless they were entering their mentorship under another Rider. The Captain didn't normally pass Walkers off to someone who wasn't a Teacher, either. Having Vargis along or not didn't make it any less unusual.
She looked across the room, to see if the Captain had arrived yet, but he was still missing. Likely getting dressed or reading his speech again. Vera thought he was only making things worse for himself...
"Mm." The sound was thoughtful, but not very committed. She hadn't wanted to think about where she was going over the next few weeks. Her course always seemed sketched out in detail before she had the chance to look to the horizon. It was depressing, sometimes, to think her fate was not her own until a month into the future. Or perhaps three, depending on where she was sent. Vera pressed her lips together and looked into the deep red liquid in her glass. "The Captain promised me rest, but I've been asked back to Eistocene."
If only the envelope she received had been in her mother's hand. A letter from her father, the High Lord, indicated something harder than enduring her family. Vera did her best to picture Eragos flexing right then, to offset the memory that sought to darken her mood.
"I hope to stay in the Castel a few nights, before having to ride Dinaden out in the snow," she said. Vera looked back at Eragos and smiled. "I do like to come home from time to time, no matter what is said about me."
She took another sip of her punch and cleared her throat. She ran her fingers along the stem of her glass.
"Speaking of which...Rider Davril's nose didn't look quite right the last time I ran across him."