The Soldier of Stars [1] - Band of Brothers

33 | sainte-come-du-mont

" A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden."

- Unknown 

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" Hey! Hazel!" a voice said and Hazel glanced over her shoulder to see it was Shifty.

" Shifty!" Hazel called, turning excitedly and jumping up and down before pulling him into a hug into her arms, a grin spread on her face.

" I'm so glad you made it." Hazel said as she pulled back from Shifty.

" Yeah me too, Lizzie's the one to thank for that." Shifty said and Hazel glanced over her shoulder toward Lizzie who offered a tiny mock salute with two fingers. Hazel smiled.

" You feeling okay? You need water?" Hazel asked him, she figured they'd been gone for as long as they were and that they needed some sort of water or liquid by now.

" Yeah, that'd be great." Shifty said. Hazel waved to Tab and Lizzie before leading Shifty over to her things and bending down to hand him her canteen which was filled with fresh water.

" I heard about Catherine." Shifty said as he took a gentle sip of water. Hazel smiled sadly.

" She'll be okay though, I've seen her around Aldbourne and in training. She'll find a way." Shifty said and Hazel smiled with a nod.

" She always does." Hazel agreed and Shifty smiled.

" So how was using that thing for the first time in combat?" Shifty asked, " You took the garrison right?"

" Oh yeah!" Hazel exclaimed, taking hold of the Springfield and holding it up in the morning light, " I can thank my training for the shots I was able to take." Shifty grinned.

" What was it like?"

" Well," Hazel said as she sat down and held up the scope to her eye as she sat criss-cross applesauce, " I just felt a wave of trust, ya know, like you and your own gun, and I knew I could look straight down the weapon and through the scope and just know that it would be guide me to what I needed to do. Even my dad's weapon never made me feel that confident." Shifty smiled and glanced down at it.

" You're one of the best I know with it anyway, I had no doubt, you'd be good with it." Shifty said and Hazel grinned.

" Thanks Shifty." Hazel said and Shifty smiled.

" You doing okay with Catherine not being here, I know she's special to you." Shifty said and Hazel glanced up at him with a sad look in her eyes. Many people had been asking Hazel making sure she's okay just because well this was the first time ever during her training and war time that Hazel and Lizzie would not be accompanied by Catherine who was in a way like the ring-leader. But Hazel knew that she could handle things by herself as well, even with Catherine not around; Hazel just knew she'd miss her.