[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Y9sJ6mj.png[/img][/center]

[color=f7941d]“Sure, sure.”[/color]  Callie only had to half-feign the discomfort at Myron’s casual attitude to their captives’ fate.  [color=f7941d][i]Should check in on them later – for the intel opportunity and for my own satisfaction.  Can easily disguise the former as the latter.[/i]  “Realities of war, huh?  Glad you’re keeping an eye – never thought so much about it when I volunteered over here…”[/color]

[color=f7941d][i]Okay, so that was utterly unsubtle.  Tone it down, Caroline.[/i][/color]

Callie nodded to herself, as if contemplating.  She’d changed out of her Philippine Army fatigues and replaced them with a loose-fitting t-shirt, a stylised map of the archipelago emblazoned on the back, and a pair of cargo shorts.  The simple ensemble lent her an image befitting the (marginally) less brash end of the spectrum of American tourists – just as they were intended to, of course, in other situations.  For now, they were light enough for the heat and humidity and sufficiently inconsequential that she didn’t mind them getting doused in seawater.

Given the borrowed surfboard she had tucked under her arm, this was not unlikely.

[color=f7941d]“I should go ahead and join them, rep TFO.”[/color] she said, gaze settled on the shallows.  [color=f7941d]“See if we can get some camaraderie going.”  [i]Good – reinforce that naïveté and good-heartedness, make him think he doesn’t have any more layers to peel back.[/i][/color]

Callie paused another moment.  [color=f7941d][i]And now, baiting the hook…[/i]  “And hey, Myron?  One thing I might need…  Put in a word for me with command, would you?[/color]  She turned her head, warm grin spread across her face.  [color=f7941d]“Wasn’t doing well before, I realise that now, and thank you for helping me get to that…  But I’m good.  I want to help – that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?  Just need their say-so!”[/color]

The last few words she spoke more loudly, calling them out as she turned, threw up a hand in farewell and strode towards the surf.  [color=f7941d][i]Good[/i][/color], Callie thought, face falling back to its normal focused neutrality.  [color=f7941d][i]Fingers crossed, he now thinks he can manipulate me with a desire to serve – should lower his guard if I played it right, maybe even get him to come to me with a problem or two – not that I[/i] don’t[i] want to help people but – it’ll be fine.  Fine.[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d][i]How about I make this even more productive, huh?[/i][/color]

[hr][hr]
Callie never lived near to the coast.

The US was a large place; one could be on the run for years (and that’s what it had been, she was sure now) and not pass within a hundred miles of the sea.  Callie had, in fact, been to the beach but once, on a holiday that her aunt Sandra had insisted on taking after Charter manifested.

One would not, therefore, expect her to be a capable surfer.  This would ignore two factors.  Firstly, the young Caroline Lidmann had [i]tried[/i] to surf on that holiday and, in brief, not exactly mastered it.

Secondly, this had followed shortly after the moment in her life that she became very, [i]very[/i] determined.

Callie remembered those days well – remembered going out to the lake day after day, to the same lake where she had won that determination – and practising, on and on, often until the sun was beginning to blaze a bruised orange across its surface.  To fall into those long-established patterns, to do something that demanded her focus but not her intellect – even if the vapour on her face was saltier than it was then and the air a searing heat rather than a cool midwestern morning, it still felt [i]glorious[/i].

Of course, another point of difference: actual waves, here.

Paddling out (during which she did actually give ‘Wei Rui’ a friendly wave and greeting) and then riding the crests back (including, as predicted, one dousing as she shook the rust from her old instincts), she’d slowly made her way up the beach, closer and closer to where her Charter-enhanced sight could make out a crowd in the middle distance containing some [i]familiar[/i] individuals…  Now she came to the final approach.  Turning, she began the paddle back to shore, waiting, waiting…  [color=f7941d][i]There[/i][/color] – Callie felt the rising water below her and rose with it, standing with just the [i]slight[/i] lean needed to let the wave carry her and the board forward.

For a long, long moment, she let herself exult in the feeling of effortless momentum.  The rushing wind caressed her still-damp hair and blustered in ears already rushing with pumping blood and adrenaline; the spray of an ocean painted in deep azure whipped around her legs.  Above, a shining, cloudless sky and sun cast her and her surrounds in glorious light, the waters glistening before her passage.

Callie grinned.  Then she felt the momentum changing, slowing, closer to shore…  Charter fell into her hand; she looked back with a practised focus, gaze piercing out to the seabed a ways beyond the coast even as she kept a part of her consciousness on the board beneath her…

And, with a familiar surge, even as the wave fell upon the sands, a [i]new[/i] sheet of water rose under her, bearing her and the board aloft and following her above and over the shoreline!  Callie let loose a bright, pealing laugh.  Sure, she’d brought out this particular tool in her box to appeal to the aspiring Emperor’s theatrical side but that didn’t make it any less fun than it always was!

Of course, another part of her mind, still very cognisant of her [i]other[/i] potential target dressed in her usual form-fitting garb that she had to fight to ignore, screamed at her that she was [i]wet[/i] and [i]unkempt[/i] and (in a flare-up that brought her back to the emotional awkwardness of middle school) [i]definitely not[/i] at her most attractive.

[color=f7941d][i]Not that I should even be letting myself think like that in the first place!  She’s dangerous – no, that is [/i]absolutely not[i] a point in her favour – her loyalties are questionable, plus I was given explicit orders to –[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d][i]To avoid anything [/i]that could be turned to her advantage[i].  And look at me!  I am damned capable myself and not so hard on the eyes either![/i][/color]  She ignored the [color=f7941d][i]In my own way…[/i][/color] added by a more tentative voice.  [color=f7941d][i]I am worth the effort – and who’s to say that I’m the only one who can have their eye drawn?  Who’s to say I can’t draw them?  Who’s to say I can’t draw [/i]hers?[i]  I can take advantage of that, can’t I, if it’s in line with my goals?[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d][i]Letting impulse get in the way of the mission…[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d]Aligning[I] impulse [/i]and[i] the mission![/i][/color]

And so, fuelled by determination, adrenaline and more than a little wild abandon, Callie crouched to grab the board, leant back into something approaching a stall, loosed the energy maintaining the portal beneath it to cut off the rushing water and fell, graceful as a gymnast, even as she tucked the surfboard beneath her arm.  She landed a few metres opposite the group, heralded by a prismatic cascade that scattered across the sand behind her, and transitioned seamlessly into an easy stride.  [color=f7941d]“Well, this is a merry band!”[/color] she announced, flashing a truly [i]brilliant[/i] smile at Qingshe before turning to the young man in blue.  [color=f7941d]“And, if I’m not wrong, an illustrious one – your Imperial Majesty, it is an honour to…”[/color]

When Callie had taken the chance of glancing at them through Charter earlier, she had noted Sister Marta’s presence – a fresh recruit with an impressive humanitarian record and an equally impressive capacity for healing, from what she’d heard.  That accounted for three of the four people she’d seen on approach.  She’d recognised the other even at a distance – one ‘Cristina’, also a recruit, about whom she knew far less – but up until now, she hadn’t got a clear sense of her expression or body language.  Now she did…

[color=f7941d]“…I have definitely interrupted something, haven’t I?”[/color]