Chapter Text
The sun was quickly settling down on the horizon as they were getting ready to leave their post at the city border. The gate was about to close when one of the men shouted for them to stop and look ahead.
A man was riding towards them as fast as the wind, his horse barely stopping in time when he came to a halt at the gates.
“I have a letter for the Colonel,” was the first thing he said, not even bothering to introduce himself to the men before him. “From the Governor himself. I'm not to give it to anyone else but the Colonel or one of the Captains.”
“You're in luck then, boy,” Quentin Lance stepped ahead. “Captain Lance,” he offered his hand, then nodded to a nearby building. “Ask Miss Jiwe to give you a room for the night, say I'll pay for it in the morning. Get some rest, feed your horse.”
He nodded, hands trembling from the effort and the ride.
Quentin looked down at the letters in his hand. He didn't need to open it to guess what it said. He hurried up and didn't look behind as he walked to the closest horse he could set his eyes on. It belonged to a soldier, but he let Quentin have it with just a nod and the promise to return it. He rode, fast and steady, with his heart trumping in his chest, not dissimilarly to how the young man was doing just a few minutes ago outside the borders of their city.
When he got to the Colonel's house, it was dark outside and colder than before. He saw a light coming from one of the downstairs rooms and he knew immediately what to expect. As he guessed, Rip Hunter was sitting in one of the chairs, reading an old book.
“Quite late to be visiting someone else's home. People talk, you know?” Quentin had never disapproved of Rip. He had never approved of him either.
“Let it be extravagant talk, then,” he smiled, undeterred by Quentin's entrance. “You're in someone else's home, as well, I see.”
“Gentlemen, please. My two Captains quarrelling this late at night is hardly proper.”
Quentin turned as Rip got up, both of them stepping ahead towards the reading room's doorway, both of them nodding their heads.
“Colonel Sharpe. I have a letter from the Governor himself, young lad just delivered it at the border for you. This late and this urgent, I think this might be the news we were waiting for.”
“Ah, you see, that is why Rip is here. Captain Hunter?” Ava encouraged him to explain.
“The letter arrived by regular mail this late afternoon, Captain Lance,” Rip said, nodding to an opened envelope on the nearby table. “The Colonel shall be made General as soon as the new month arrives.”
Quentin frowned, raising the letter still in his hand and handing it to Ava.
“What'd you reckon this is, then?”
The woman shrugged, ripping open the sigil and reading quickly through it. She turned on her heals, closing the door behind her, then thought better of it and opened it again, shouting for her groom. Well, he started out as a groom but given the softer nature of the man, Ava had deemed him more fitted to be some sort of butler, to stay indoors. He just referred to him as her assistant, despite how modern and quirky it sounded.
“Gary!”
The man trotted inside after a few silent moments. “Yes, Colonel Sharpe?”
“Gary, go fetch Mr Heywood. Stop at nothing, and if the Major asks you why you need his son, tell him you don't have a clue.”
“I don't have a clue.”
“Exactly like that,” Ava shut the door again, trusting he could get to the Heywood mansion and back in one piece.
“What do you need Nathaniel for?” Rip frowned once the door was closed.
Ava looked back at them, raising the letter in her hands.
“Can't be,” Quentin tried not to smile. “Sad news.”
Ava bit her lip to refrain from smiling as well. “Quite terrible, really. The governor has fallen hill, this letter is from his daughter. She can make him lean toward someone from our city, and if not she can convince him not to say anything at all, and she'll give the recommendation on his behalf herself after his... tragic, horrific departure.”
“How hill?” Rip asked, trying not to sound eager.
“New year, not past the first month at the longest.”
“The Governor-” he stopped, realizing he was talking to loud, so he lowered his voice. “Governor Darhk,” he said again, “is dying?”
“And I'm to be made General in a month,” Ava added.
“There are only two other Generals in the whole State, both too old and retired already,” Quentin reminds them, even though there's no need to do so. “You might be elected, and even if you come in second the State will itch to keep you in politics.”
“This is why I sent for Nate.”
“Nate?” Quentin raised an eyebrow.
“The Heywood boy, good friend of mine. Not as good as the Governor's daughter, but he's a good lad and I trust him deeply.”
“Oh, Ava,” Rip whispered. “You want him to run your campaign. Won't he choose to run his father's instead?”
“Heywood's a Major, and quite happy with his retirement,” Quentin said. “The boy's smart, one of my daughters has some common friends with him. If you trust him, he might be a good match for this.”
Ava nodded and started to pace, her brain working at twice its usual speed. At that point, all they could do was wait for her groom to be back.
Shortly after silence befell them, there were two knocks at the door, and when Ava opened it again Gary was standing there, out of breath, despite having gone by horse.
“Mr Heywood is here,” he announced, despite Ava being perfectly able to see him herself.
“Mr Heywood,” she greeted, “please, come in.”
Nate took off his hat and walked into the room as the door was closed behind him and Gary. Ava hesitated for a moment, not sure Gary should be there. He'd never been good with secrets. She asked him for a very important favour: to go fetch her uniform from upstairs, then bring it to be washed by Mrs Tomaz at the shop in town. He frowned at the odd request made far too late in the evening, but he nodded and went to do as he had been told.
Ava gave the letter to Nate. They waited as he read it. Then they waited as he pondered why he'd been called there.
“I will run the best campaign you could ever want. You won't even notice you're running, you'll be Governor without realizing you are.”
Ava raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, assuming that is why I'm here.”
She nodded, pleased with his response to the matter at hand. “This stays between us until we announce it officially, we don't want to come off as vultures.”
“He has been quite a terrible Governor,” Nate reasoned. “We can start some rumours, so people will get used to thinking of you as a candidate for the job. Quite a good one, enlisted without conscription, because women aren't forced into arms, spotless career and won us a boarder and our city back. Unless a Major older than you runs-”
“About that,” Ava said, walking to her desk to grab the other letter. “If he makes it past the New Year, it won't matter if a Major or a Colonel older than me runs. I'll be appointed General, soon.”
Nate gasped at that and his eyes lit up. “You cannot possibly lose. The only other candidate that might get in your way-” his shoulders slumped a little. “Colonel Diggle. He does have one advantage that might allure to people more than your rank. He's married, on the family way.”
Both Rip and Lance sighed, shaking their heads. Ava frowned.
“That is easily fixed,” Nate amended. “You will be appointed in a few weeks, you could marry quickly after, it could be done before the Governor even passes.”
“I cannot marry a man,” Ava said, firm and almost appalled. Rip raised an eyebrow at her and Ava was quick to backtrack. “With my title and my wealth, any man I marry would want to be the one to run for Governor. Why else marry me?”
“For love?” Rip dared. “But I agree, I doubt you'll fall in love in this short time, but there is still a way. Odd, surely, but not unheard of for women of your rank and title, who volunteered and made it back home.”
“Yes, I was thinking the same,” Nate agreed. “Perhaps you might not be keen on it, and of course, if that is indeed the case, we could have you run no matter your conjugal status. But we should consider the possibility...”
Ava prompted the end of his sentence, but he looked over at Rip, who turned to Quentin. He looked at Ava with kind eyes and a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe not for love, not in two months time, but you shouldn't marry someone you would never grow fond of, either,” he told her, gently. “What the boys are saying is, perhaps you could consider proposing marriage to a woman.”
“Oh,” Ava frowned. “Yes, I suppose if I were to marry- but I've never been fond of someone enough to even consider courting, let alone marriage!”
That wasn't the entire truth, but it was close enough to it and it would have to do since she wasn't keen on sharing that piece of her past with them.
“Well, we could try to think of someone appropriate,” Nate reasoned. “Someone from a good family, possibly military as well. A similar age to your own, if possible, you're still quite young so it shouldn't be a problem to find an unmarried woman your age. Proper, educated, well liked by our people...”
Rip and Nate both slowly turned to Quentin.
“Do you not have two daughters, Captain Lance?” Rip asked.
“I do. But Ava, you don't have to chose one of mines out of obligation to me, as great as a honour that would be.”
Ava felt overwhelmed by everything that had been said, and at the same time hopeful about the future ahead of her. This was something she had worked all her life toward to. At this point, if she had to marry for appearances, who could be better than the daughter of one of the few people she had ever trusted?
“The honour would be mine, Captain Lance. You know how I look up to you, it would be a blessing, really.”
He smiled at that, pleased with the answer.
“It's settled, then. You can come meet Laurel the day after tomorrow, as soon as I've talked to her. You two can get to know each other, see if there might be a chance of a marriage working out. And then we can start planning this campaign.”
Ava nodded, pleased with the conclusion they had reached.