33 Risen#re

Tobias, Edith, and Cole had the most experience in this field so each one wanted to know what the other thought before listening to their junior's opinion.

And as far as Lirian was concerned, it seemed impossible to get his opinion, asking a blind person for their opinion on a bunch of maps felt kinda rude to all of them.

As they waited for Edith they noticed that she seemed to be out of sorts, as she cast continuous gazes at Lirian, they had noticed that it started happening since earlier, when Lirian called Media to help him gather the intel for the mission.

When she noticed the two of them staring at her she shook herself out of her stupor, and brought her gaze of Lirian, she thought that they had some form of a relationship after what had happened between them.

That day in her bedroom had become a memory of pure shame for her, she kept wondering how could a high-class lady like herself act like some wanton hussy.

Her conclusion was to blame it on her mother who told her to do those things and secondly was the numerous bottles of wines she had emptied out.

She made a resolution to herself to never drink again, just the thought of how she moved her hips around on top of him on that day was driving her crazy.

Then she got completely naked, her only solace in that was that Lirian was blind, but that didn't stop him from squeezing her every muscle as if he wanted to remember her every nook and cranny inside out.

After such a thing happened between them, she believed that it would only be natural for him to get her to help him out, with matters like this, but instead he chose Media to help him.

It was driving her mad, was he suddenly over her, the way he touched her that day and brought her to a full-blown climax, and the way in which he heavily panted while doing all those things with her body certainly didn't make it seem like he could be over her, just like that.

Is he one of those horny dogs that can't keep his hands to one girl, she thought, but no that makes no sense at all, he has been the centre of attention of 90% of the girls in the school in school but his never even made a move on any of them.

Some of them are so obvious that it was like they are begging him to screw them, but then there are also those that would outright tell him that he could do whatever he likes with them, but he never did a thing.

Or maybe this is just his way of trying to make me jealous, yes that must be it, she though with sudden insight, she decided that she wasn't going to let him play that game with her, if he wanted to make her jealous, he could dream on.

"Edith, hello, anybody home?" Tabias snapped his fingers in front of her face repeatedly as she seemed to fall into her thoughts again, this time her whole face slowly changed into a red colour.

When she snapped out of her stupor once more, she looked around blankly, before shooting a knowing smile at Lirian, when she suddenly recalling that he couldn't see anything.

She sighed and looked around, "Yes both of your ideas are very intriguing," she said with a warm smile, earning her an annoyed look from both of them.

They realised that she hadn't been paying attention from the beginning, otherwise she would have never called their ideas interesting at all, Cole's idea was a complete bust, and Tobias's was completely playing it safe.

"Would you run me through them again?" she asked innocently as she pretended not to see their irritated faces.

"Don't bother," said Lirian, "We won't be going with either of your ideas any way, we'll be going with whatever Media comes up with," he said in a laid-back manner the only thing he was missing was some food to toss into his mouth.

Media took a deep breath she had figured that Lirian was going to say something along those lines after what he told her when they went to meet with the commander.

"What do you mean?" Edith spun on her heel sharpy and looked at him with a raised brow.

"I mean that I'm leaving the planning and execution of the expedition entirely in Media's capable hands," he said bewildering all of them.

Wentian looked at him coldly, he had always known Lirian to be hard working and capable, so this sudden disregard of his duties made him feel that something was off.

"You know Lirian it feels like you're passing on all of your important duties onto Media," Wentian said with a slightly heated voice as he looked at Lirian's laid back attitude.

He was always straight forward, and unbending with everyone, even if they were his friend, many people took as him being stuck up, as if he thought he was better than everyone else, but it also got him the respect of many people.

Lirian turned to face him but it was done so lethargically that it only made Wentian even more angry.

Lirian was supposed to be the leader of the expedition but he had given the most important first step of info gathering to someone else he could look past it given Lirian's problem, however, he was shirking his responsibilities and passing all of it onto Media.

Her previous failure had already been a blow to her confidence and now he was forcing her to lead the most difficult type of expedition.

Lirian sighed in exasperation, if they could see through his blind fold, they would have seen his eyes do a perfect up and spin in his eye sockets.

"You've all heard about this being the hardest type of expedition, but has any of you even considered why it is considered as such?" he said flaying his hands around as he was fed up with them.

Cole tapped his ear and rubbed the gold stud that showed his identity as a candidate, "Here we go," he muttered under his breath.

Lirian could feel their judgemental stares, and smiled because he knew that they would be swallowing their judgement in a few moments.

"Do you know why it's usually almost impossible for other candidates to do well as a commander, it's because they have to compete with other candidates while trying to maintain their authority over the other candidates, and I think all of you can imagine how disastrous such a situation can be."

Edith gasped with realisation, "They'd all be undermining each-others authority, trying to one up each other and proving their superiority over the others, it's like a recipe for disaster waiting to happen."

"Exactly," said Lirian, Edith was easily the smartest of the bunch, so he knew that she'd catch on the fastest.

"And thanks to the way that Edith and Tobias conducted the candidates over the years we don't have to worry about all the back stabbing that would go on in this situation, you could say that the main problem had been eliminated before it even started."

Both Edith and Tobias beamed with joy at the compliment when they realised what they were doing they both frowned and looked away, which made it even more obvious.

"Since you all understand that, you should realise that even without that problem this is going to be no picnic, commanding 3000 troops is no easy task, but Media can give it her best shot and if she has any trouble, we'll all be here to help her out,"

"In the future, I doubt we'll be fortunate enough to have this kind of expedition ever again," as he said those words, he got a strange feeling that this was going to be his first and last expedition.

He shook his head to get rid of that feeling and continued, "Now Media can do her very best, with the very best support a candidate can hope to receive, and even if she royally screws things up, which I doubt she'll be able to do with everyone looking out for her, all the blame would land solely on me as the sole commander."

Media took a deep breath as she tried in vain to stop her eyes from misting up, she couldn't believe that Lirian was doing so much for her.

She heard Cole sniffle a little as she turned to look at him she saw him looking between her and Lirian with little tear drops in the corners of his eye.

"Why are you going so far for her?" Edith snapped a little more intensely than she realised.

When she saw everyone looking at her she held her head high and turned away not wanting them to see the envy hidden in her eyes.

"Is it not our duty as candidates to help other candidates," Lirian said firmly, ", you know it was only after seeing you and Tobias talking to each other so casually and with friendliness on my second day in the academy that I realised that, it was you who thought me that candidates aren't enemies, but rather companions that help each other up when they need it," his words held a power in them that made them all take a step back in awe.

"Also, it seemed like a fun idea," he lied completely killing the inspirational atmosphere he created, the main reason he wanted someone else to lead was because he had a few plans of his own that might require him to head off on his own.

"And besides," he said with a small shrug, "If anyone disagrees with me, unlike all other candidates in the past I can knock all of you senseless while enjoying a slice of cake."

When he said that Cole's sniffles turned from, sniffles of being genuinely touch, to sobs of grief, he wanted to deliver a fatal blow to Lirian for ruining such a touching moment.

Media was gripping her fist tightly over her heart, her eyes were no longer misty and a look of fiery determination had taken root in them.