Proof of paper

"Enter," Blessed Knight Gens Amilar said without looking up from the pile of paperwork that had somehow accumulated on his desk. I take a few days leave and the place goes to Malfeas. I guess it's like
my tutor's always said, you can't trust others to do their duty, and the most you can hope for is that they don't interfere with yours. He thought to himself, grumbling under his breath.

The young man who entered came to attention on the other side of the desk, waiting for Knight to acknowledge his presence. He ignored the soldier, letting him stew for a moment. It was always a good
idea, in Knight's opinion, to let a subordinate wait. It reminded them of their place in the chain of command and gave him an advantage when dealing with soldier's under his authority.

He let another moment pass before acknowledging him. "Gochei, I hope this is important." he said firmly, taking his eyes from his paperwork to glance sternly at the soldier.

"Yes Chuzei! There is a problem at the gate sir. I think we may have another set of imposter's sir." The Gochei said, standing even more erect if that was possible as his commander turned his attention to him.

"Do they have papers?" Knight asked, a frown appearing on his face.

"Yes sir." the Gochei answered, placing the papers on the desk.

Knight leaned back in the chair, studying the papers for a moment. The names looked familiar, but he couldn't place from where. At least he couldn't until he came to the last set of papers. He could feel the blood drain from his face in shock as he read the name again, sure that somehow he was reading it wrong. There had been numerous attempts to infiltrate their military installations here in Lookshy over the last several years, and a few of them had used that name. . . But none of them had arrived with official papers. The implications of what he was holding ran through his head. With a start he realized he had been silent a moment too long, his subordinate was frowning at him, a worried look on his face.

"Show them in Gochei, and keep this quiet, I don't want anyone to hear about this before I can figure out if it is genuine or not, understand?" Knight said quietly, nodding to the man in dismissal.

With a salute the man exited, leaving Knight with his worried thoughts. They have been dead for four years . . . If they are truly here . . . The Shozei should be told . . . Is she in Lookshy at the moment? . . . Thoughts ran through his head faster than he could catch them. There were too many questions and not enough answers.

The room felt decidedly crowded as people began to file in. His shock grew as the first woman walked through the door. He could feel the blood draining from his face as they all filed into the room behind her. The sight of the silver haired girl in the Monk's arms caused trepidation to build. It took him a moment to realize that the beautiful redheaded woman in front of him was waiting for him to speak. The sight of her brought back memories that had no place in the present, though he felt his body responding against his will. With a deep breath he suppressed the heat that the sight of her caused to rise in his body and focused on the here and now.

"I'm sorry, but there seems to be a problem with your papers." he said, his deep tenor voice coming out blessedly normal to his ears.

"Problem?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in irritation.

Knight nodded his head, unable to take his eyes off of the dead woman . . . Sin. "You've been dead for four years." he finally said.

The questions that began to rain down on him from the group in front of him had no order. They came out so quickly, overlapping each other so much that they just became a string of nonsense. He watched the shock on their faces, realizing that even without proof their reaction had convinced him of their sincerity. The yelling and questions continued for a few moments more before the man standing next to Sin raised his hand to quiet his companions. It took a moment but the flow of questions ceased, all of them turning
to look at Sin.

"Dead . . . We were pronounced dead?" she asked finally as the shock receded.

"Yes, four years ago the Directorate of the Adjutant General declared you dead. I'm sorry, but it may take a few days to get this straightened out . . . "he said trailing off as Sin glanced back at the girl lying unconscious in the back of the room.

"We don't have a few days, the Shozei will not thank you for keeping us waiting here while her daughter becomes more and more distant." Sin said, frowning in thought.

With a grimace Knight sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him as he sought an acceptable compromise. "I will have the girl and her companion escorted to the Shozei, the rest of you will have to be placed in detention to await debriefing before we will allow you to reenter the general public. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but that is the best I can do until the Council has time to hear the case and the Legion has a chance to debrief you and supply you with new papers." he finally said, genuinely sorry that he could not allow them to go home, knowing that after being gone for so long they would want nothing more than familiar things.

"If you would gather your things I will take you to the detention center." he said, hoping that he wouldn't have to have them forcibly detained. This will teach me to go on vacation again . . .