Ichor

Commander (Part VIII)

Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

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Early in the morning, way before dawn, Travis rose from the bunk bed the Hermes cabin kept for him. He was quiet, but Connor felt the bed stir from his place on the top bunk.

"Travis?" Connor whispered, obviously still half-asleep.

"Go back to back to bed, Connor. I'll be back."

That caught his attention and woke him up like an ice cold bucket of water. "Wait! Don't go! They said until after breakfast."

"Relax, Connor," Travis tried to soothe, "I'm just going for a run."

Connor nodded his head but looked a little dejected.

So Travis offered, "Would you like to join me?"

It didn't take long before they were leisurely jogging around camp. You could faintly hear the soldier's first morning drills in the arena. It was a wonder how the thousands of soldiers fit, but Travis knew Percy had expanded it to meet their needs thanks to Chaos's blessing.

The two brothers made small talk and Travis told some of his stories, mainly the pranks he pulled. When they were passing the beach, Connor noticed that the Commander was standing on the shore overlooking the sea.

"Does he even train with his soldiers?" Connor asked with slight disapproval.

"Watch what you say," Travis warned. "He's usually very adamant that even he must participate in drills. So if he's not with them there's good reason."

"What's he like?" Connor tried to amend, not wanting to argue. "He seems really... uptight."

Travis nodded, but it wasn't in total agreement, more of acknowledgment. "He's a good guy. But unfortunately, I can't tell you what he's like. It's classified."

Connor laughed a little. "Why is everything about him classified? He doesn't even show his face. How can we trust him?"

Travis pulled them to a stop. "Because I trust him. Because he deserves to be trusted. There's a lot even I don't understand. But... just trust me if you don't trust him. Ok?"

Connor huffed but relented. "Ok, fine. But the others have their reservations too."

Now Travis sighed. "I expected that, but tell them to be careful with what they say. He's our Commander. He's my Commander. And we all respect him, most owe him our lives. A few soldiers could get very defensive if you guys were to insult him."

"Ok, ok, I hear you. Only talk about him behind his back," Connor smirked.

They both laughed at that and opted for just walking along the beach. As they got closer to the Commander, Connor noticed a slight posture change in his brother. It was more set, more ridged, more guarded but also more confident. They were about to walk past when Travis suddenly stopped and headed towards the man.

"Just stand by me and don't say anything unless asked a direct question," he ordered.

Connor nodded and followed closely behind. He wasn't sure what to expect but it wasn't complete silence as they stared into the ocean.