[center][color=red]Phoenix Compound, The Red Seminary, Magnagrad[/color][/center][hr]

In that place, in the hours before dawn, the stillness and silence felt alien. The servants had long been called away, and if his count was correct, there were only four inquisitors in the entire compound. In the cavernous hall behind him, further in, he could hear the quiet voices of Hassan and Stina echoing throughout the common room. It felt strange. The compound had never been this deserted before. 

Ragnar stood in the spacious kitchen, rubbing his arms as he peered down at the breakfast he was preparing. It was always cold in this place, no matter where you were. Though the compound was more comfortable to him than anywhere else in the Seminary, with large open spaces, personalized rooms that catered to each individual inquisitor, soft beds, and a staff of servants to answer their every whim, the Phoenix compound had still been constructed with a certain amount of enmity in mind. "They will not want you at ease," Galahad told him once, and he had been right. It was spacious, but the lamps installed within its fixtures were dim, leaving much of the compound in half-darkness. Cold seeped through its stones, and always, there was the sound of churning machinery rumbling through the air, as the engines that powered the Seminary were said to be enshrined nearby. They could never sleep peacefully because of it. Ragnar wondered if anyone hated the compound as much as he did. 

Beneath his gaze the ether burned the synthetic meat black, just as Stina liked it, and the vegetable platter Ragnar prepared for Hassan had been expertly seasoned to his taste. He gathered the trays of food and made his way back to the common room, but stopped abruptly near a lone doorway.

[i]Vivica's room[/i].

He could sense her within. 

The etherlight spilled out from the bottom of her door. As far as he could tell, she wasn't sleeping. The Omestrian girl, with her dark blonde hair and striking golden eyes, had met Ragnar, Stina and Hassan when they stumbled into the compound after returning from their little adventure in the slums. She had stared at them blankly, not answering when Ragnar waved hello. It was as if she hadn't seen them at all. She blinked once and calmly walked into her chambers. The girl's silence was strange. Mother Viveca had been friendly and sociable when she and her two warsiblings were first transferred into Phoenix Warband. On one occasion Viveca had even helped Ragnar prepare a late night meal as a celebration of the two warbands coming together. Why was she acting so strangely?

Perhaps she was weary about the long journey tomorrow and the even longer expedition that would follow. The sun was soon to rise, and with it, they would make their way to the military station, where they would meet up with Ziotea and Father Oren as they returned from Omestris, and together they would take the last train to Cero, where everyone else was already waiting. Ragnar put the thought out of his mind and proceeded to where Stina and Hassan sat at the common room. He flashed them a warm smile as he placed their food on the table in front of them. They were most likely starving, especially after using their ether during that fight in the pub. 

He sat down next to Stina and watched his giant of a warbrother stab at the mostly burnt piece of meat and tear into it with his teeth. Ragnar smiled. It overjoyed him whenever he could cook for his siblings. Usually the servants handled that task, and they certainly didn't like it when he tried to take over their duties. The intense feeling of happiness began to fade as Ragnar watched Stina eat. He stared at the cut pieces of synthetic flesh on Stina's plate, and his stomach began to turn.

He could still see them. The bodies. And what was left.. All those limbs, floating like little islands in an ocean of oily blood. 

"S-So, what was it like?" he asked nervously, trying desperately to make any kind of sound that would distract from the sound of Stina chewing.
 
Stina stared at him uncertainly, as if he had little idea as to what Ragnar was talking about. 

"Did you enjoy it? Killing those ice pirates, I mean. You didn't have to hold back this time, not like in training."

Ragnar's stomach began to growl. He was also starving. He looked down at his plate. The meat glistened in the light of the etherlamps. It looked revolting. But he could not waste the flesh. 

"It must've been... liberating," Ragnar said as he stabbed at a strip of meat with a fork and brought it his mouth.