Ch. 44 - Tied Together

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On orders from Erwin, for fear of attacks both from within the walls and without, the new and official Special Operations Squad has been roughing it out in a small cabin - roughing it out in the sense that so many people were crammed into a small house, completely isolated from the rest of the regiment. It wasn't like we were eating dirt, so we weren't roughing it out that bad, but...

At the very least, it's been interesting living in such close quarters with all of them, I had to admit - and that's putting it lightly. There wasn't much privacy, with only so many bedrooms and so many beds and so many nosy young scouts. The kids seemed confused as to why exactly we were here, but as was usual, Levi and myself were sworn to some level of secrecy. If things escalated, we would have to tell them what was going on and what might happen, but for now, all that mattered to them was following their orders, as any good soldier should operate.

As far as they knew, all they had to do was lay low, and protect Eren and Historia, but who or what, of course, was still unknown to them, and hopefully it would remain as such. They were on a need-to-know basis, and only we needed to know. But of course, in the event we had to tell them, how exactly were we to tell them that the royal fucking government was sure to come after us?

Erwin had heard mumblings recently, from his own close comrades and from even Pixis, that there were murmurings of danger heading our way.

So for now, this living situation, strange though it was, was manageable for the time being. The kids would rotate their duties, including chopping wood, preparing food for dinner, tidying up the house, being on watch, heading to town for supplies, and everything between.

With the rising suspicions that our enemies were hiding in the shadows of humanity just waiting for a chance to strike we needed to remain vigilant, even if that meant Eren and Historia had to be bored and remain at the homestead for a while. Levi and I would spend our days in the towns, visiting with Erwin, Hange, and the other squad leaders for meetings and briefings and the like, and - oh, there was more news.

Because of what happened in Stohess, and then continuing to keep Eren for ourselves instead of handing him over as the high brass demanded, Erwin was on trial. So, you know. Things were very quickly going sideways for us.

As for today, we had just returned for the day to the house after a long day discussing plans and counter-plans for what might happen within the next few days. I pulled back on Strider's reins and he complied with a whinny, happy to be done for now. Levi pulled up right behind me on his dark mare and dismounted his horse first.

He grabbed its reins in one fluid motion as he did, and he approached the side of my horse to help me down before giving me a chance to do it myself. After looping his reins around his arm, he reached up towards me. Considering I was riding sidesaddle, he was able to grab my hips and help me down from the animal.

It was a new way of riding for me - and I was only doing it because I was wearing a skirt that went down about to my mid-calf. I was only doing that because we had to lay low while we were here. Being in full Survey Corps uniform would admittedly ruin the whole being discreet thing, and so for now, Levi and I had taken to wearing our casual wear, what little of it we had.

No, we had to blend in and not bring too much attention to ourselves, so he had been wearing his black slacks, white button-up, cravat, and black jacket with dress shoes to fit in. I had taken to wearing a dark skirt, a white button up, and a sweater, and opted to wear not the uniform boots or even flats, but casual laced boots so I could ensure I always had my knife with me.

"Thank you, my love," I said with a smile as he helped me down.

When I was safely to the ground, he led both horses to the small hitching post outside the house and I waited patiently for him to secure them there. When he returned to my side on the pathway out front, he held his arm out very unlike Levi and very like a proper gentleman, and I looped my arm with his. We headed up the small path to the front door together and he opened it, letting me in before he followed and shut it behind us.

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