Deirdre—Old Habits

	Blackpool was the largest and newest of the Three Cities.  It had started out as a small fortress on top of a hill built by northern invaders as a statement of intent  Here they were, and here they intended to stay.  This was why, Deirdre knew, they fought with Cearnach so much.  Before they came, the foxes owned all of Viridis except for the few miles around Oseille.  The walls around Blackpool were two feet thick and topped with sentries and steel spikes all the way around.  Various rulers had added their own decorative touches, but none had been able to completely disguise the old military flavor.
	Deirdre had worked out six different ways of taking the city before she had ridden through the gate.  She had worked out four more from the balcony outside of Queen Sabia's apartments.
	“No one has ever captured this city.  You’re the only one who ever came close to doing it.  You made me a little nervous for a while, General,” said Sabia.  
	She took the teapot from the coyote servant who’d brought it up from the kitchen and filled their cups herself.  Sabia was old but she had been a soldier for a while, herself, and she hadn't entirely lost the hardness it have given her.  Her bare arms were covered in scars, and she wore a severe grey uniform complete with badges and medals on the left breast.  All of it made her look out of place in the silk opulence of her apartments.
	“I could have done it, with a little more time,” Deirdre said.
	“And if Connor had given you the money and equipment.  I know.  That's why I invited you here in the first place,” said Sabia.
	The old lynx picked up her teacup and turned away to look out across her city.  Deirdre stayed in her seat, tensed to run in case things turned sour.  As much as she needed a job she wasn't willing to believe that things here were as innocent as they seemed.
	“I didn’t think you would actually come to see me.  As I understand it, you and Connor were quite close to each other,” said Sabia.  
	“We were, once.  I haven't seen him for years,” she said.
	“The story is that you have a child by him,” said Sabia.
	Deirdre shifted in her seat and tucked her tail in the crook her knee to keep it from twitching and giving away the way she felt.  She was thirty-nine now, well past the age when most of her contemporaries had left the military, and if Sabia didn't hire her there was nowhere else she could go.  The thought of going back to guarding merchant caravans was more than she could bear.
	“Ciara is mine.  She has my name.  Connor gave her up the day she was born,” she said..
	“So you have no love for Connor?”
	“How I feel doesn't matter.  His life doesn't involve me anymore, and I've learned to accept that.  I know what you're worried about, but I'm a soldier.  The history between us won't get in the way.”
	 “Will you fight for me as hard as you fought for Connor?” said Sabia.
	“Harder,” said Deirdre.
	It wasn't really a lie.  She had helped to train a number of the officers who were in charge of Connor's army now and there was nothing more embarrassing than being beaten by your own tactics.  But deep down, she knew she would only be able to keep her promise as long as it wouldn't really hurt Connor.  Sabia had to know this, too, but all she got from the old lynx was a smile.
	“I want Oseille.  With their money and their position in the middle of the island, the rabbits are perfectly suited to help me put a quick end to this war.  If I hire you, that's what you'll have to do for me,” said Sabia.
	Because she had been expecting it, Deirdre was able to keep her expression completely blank.  But it was a shock to hear it said out loud.  The Covenant of Neutrality was one of the oldest on record, and so far as she knew, nobody had ever broken it before.
	“I can get the city for you, Lady Sabia,” she said.
	Sabia grinned, showing her broken teeth.
	“Good.  As peacefully as you can, if you please.  They won't be any good to me if they're broken.  But I doubt you’ll risk hurting your daughter.”
	Dierdre’s ears flattened before she could catch herself, and Sabia’s grin grew wider.