PART IV - CHILDLIKE CHARMS

Major Celeste was full of mixed and conflicting emotions seeing Callie's new outfit. To start with, she was … well, angry wasn't the right word, it was too strong. Irritated, maybe? Yes, that seemed like it was a good one. Why? Because Callie had somehow managed to once again tap into something that was making Celeste's life difficult, and, of course, did it in a loud and public way.

First and foremost, the training camp, now Camp Utora, was a military training installation, with a side responsibility in the creation of weapons, armor, and enchanted items, making sure those trained recruits were well equipped, with excess items sent to the lines. But, because of the way Thorn and Xera wanted to train these recruits, focusing on team unity rather than traditional military discipline, that led to a bit of grumbling among the non-Beastkin soldiers she was in command of, especially the lower-ranked privates and high-privates. There was a general feeling that the recruits were 'coddled' a bit too much, and that the atmosphere was more like a sleep-away camp for children. It didn't matter that Thorn's mentor- and team-based training approach actually worked for more than just Beastkin. The camp's non-Beastkin soldiers had all had to go through traditional training, so they largely felt these new recruits should have to as well. It was a never-ending argument, and truthfully Celeste's opinion didn't count for much, since she'd been trained in the same manner during the first session.

The second source of grumbling among the military personnel was that the recruits were all Hybrids and Specialists. Throughout the land, there was always an air of snootiness held by the Advanced classes. Only around five percent of the population received one of those classes, and of those, less than half ended up with a combat class of some kind. This naturally led to Advanced classes often unconsciously acting as if they were 'better' than one of the five base classes. Arguably, if properly trained and having enough experience, this was often true, but the Major had learned she would rather have a well-trained and experienced Warrior at her side, than a poorly trained Paladin or Bladedancer. Still, in both the civilian and military circles, Advanced classes were given far too much deference and opportunity, and the base classes seemed to always come up a little short in comparison, or need to work extra-hard to achieve the same.

The third, and most-important, source of grumbling was that all the recruits were given Symbiotes. This was actually a huge area of contention. Symbiotes were worth a fortune, far more than most any person would be able to earn in many years, and they were just freely given to these uppity Advanced recruits that didn't even have to work at being soldiers to get them. Anger and jealousy was there, but largely kept to a smouldering ire, at least publicly. Sure, everyone logically understood that it was for the fight against the Demons, but, for the most part, none of the camp's soldiers felt it was very fair. However, Thorn wanted to try training some base Warrior recruits for the next term, so the Major was going to push for some of her people to be considered for Symbiotes, assuming they were willing to do their first or another tour on the front lines in return. That might help ease some of the resentment.

As if to exemplify all the points that had been made, here was Callie, doing like Callie always did, bending or breaking the rules using doubletalk, persuasiveness and her innocence to get what she wanted. She'd obviously gone to Fullo to get this crazy all-black outfit tailored, which meant that Fullo and her people had devoted time to distractions, rather than their assigned responsibilities. This wasn't the first time, either, as Callie had talked them into making hats for Jesca and then all the Rangers, and then for Lena. Granted, the latter was warranted given her losing her hair, but then it led to all the other Bladedancers getting the same, and interest among the other recruits for the same hat styles for their own classes. A simple thing spiraling into something unexpected. That was the Callie way.

Yet, watching Pixyl almost tackle Callie to the ground with violent affection was awfully adorable. That was the problem, almost everything about Callie was 'awfully adorable'. Celeste knew, in part, why that was; why everyone seemed to give her leave to get away with things she largely shouldn't, and it was why her instinctive crossness at the little Gnome was now very quickly evaporating. Gnomes had an always-active magical racial trait; a suggestive charm. It wasn't something they talked about, so the true extent of its power, if someone chose to use it for ill, wasn't appreciated by most people.

The Major had a bit of a maternal streak in her that she'd usually outright deny if asked. Part of Celeste had always wanted to find the right person, settle down somewhere quiet, and start a family. For a while, she'd even thought that might have been Olin. But their lives separated after leaving training, going to different locations at the front, so they never really had enough time to explore their future with more seriousness and maturity. Once his Conscription was over, Olin had left the army as soon as he was able, willing to return only as a civilian trainer.

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The Major, on the other hand, pushed aside the dreams of a happy homelife, for the time being. when she had been offered and accepted a commission at the rank of captain. Quickly promoted to sub-major, she was then promoted again upon being awarded her Radiant Star. That had allowed her to pick her own next duty station, and she'd been advised by a frontline-Listener she needed a break from the action, as the constant battle stress was starting to make her mentally unhealthy. She'd been having nightmares. Thorn had pulled some strings and got her assigned here, which would give her the time she needed to heal a bit while giving her some responsibilities to focus on.

Thus, in the end, that maternal streak in her was her doom when it came to Callie, and it was really hard to stay angry for very long. Blast! What was even more infuriating was that Callie wasn't even trying to take advantage of her charm. She was just Callie being Callie, and what mother couldn't help but be proud.

"I c-c-can't believe this," Pixyl said after finally coming up for air and fluttering back to the floor. "When did you get this done?"

Callie spun in place to show off her outfit, the dress and her pigtails both billowing out a bit. "I got the idea when Master Trainer Thorn was talking about the Midsummer dance at one of your demonstrations, and the Brownies agreed to make it for me."

"I l-l-love it! It's so … black!"

Callie couldn't help but giggle, having heard that refrain from everybody that had seen her. She hadn't asked anyone, but assumed black wasn't an appropriate color, probably reserved for solemn occasions like funerals or something. But this was her clubbing style, and she wasn't afraid to own it, even if wrong for this fantasy world. She had her hair and the choker of white flowers to add color, at least.

Major Celeste, still trying very hard to express even a minuscule amount of condemnation, utterly failed in the face of the tiny couple. She finally sighed. "It's quite lovely, Callie. I must commend you for the initiative you took in working with Fullo's people." Wait! No! She didn't need to do that! But … the big purple-eyed grin had melted away the last of her irritation, and the praising words sort of slipped out.

"Little One," Arkan Pelidri began, shaking his head in disbelief while grinning as hard as Callie was, "I have witnessed many, many Gnome antics in my days. This one would have impressed even my wife, although her hair was a dark green, so she tended more towards brighter colors." He then quickly amended for the rest of the table that one of his previous wives had been a Gnome, which seemed to explain everything, and elicited some joking sympathies from Olin.

Whatever conversation was about to happen was suddenly interrupted as Ambria came bounding in from out of nowhere, her hooves clomping on the temporary wooden floor, having taken her boots off at some point. Squealing in happiness as she scooped Callie up off the ground, she spun the Gnome several times in a circle, babbling slightly incoherently about how her black outfit was so bright and that Callie was the 'prettiest little thing ever'. Soon she was joined by a few other female recruits, all gushing in jealousy, wishing they had thought to do the same thing and most pointing out how black Callie's dress was. Before long, the gaggle of recruits pulled Callie and Pixyl away, Ambria likely wanting to show her off to more people. This left Vanis, Pelidri, Celeste and Olin standing at the table in somewhat stunned confusion at all that had happened in the preceding few minutes.

Pelidri sighed, but was wearing a smile. "Quite the handful, isn't she? Although this is relatively mild compared to most young Gnomes I know."

"She's chaos with everything she comes into contact with," the Major said, sighing as well but wearing much less of a smile. She turned to the Arkan. "You know she shouldn't have done that. Now it's just going to lead to more accusations of favoritism from the soldiers here, and that just means headaches for me."

"It's Midsummer," Olin chuckled. "Lighten up a bit. I give her points for thinking to do it, honestly. Nobody will care."

"Some of them will." Celeste replied, a snarl directed at herself more than Olin. "I just can't seem to say no to her, or stay angry for long. I don't think she really understands the power she wields."

"You mean the charm?" Pelidri asked. "They can't control it, you know."

"I know. Pama explained it to me last term. You were married to a Gnome, though. How did you manage to deal with it?"

The Arkan shrugged. "It's just who they are, I suppose, and you can't really fault them for its influence. After all, it is suggestive; playing on your maternal side. As for my wife, the power actually fades as they get older. By the time a Gnome reaches mid-life, it doesn't have much effect any longer, so I was spared much of it, save when her grandchildren and great-grandchildren visited."

"Oh good," Vanis laughed with a deadpan inflection. "That's only another eighty years or so of Callie released on the world."

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