The warlord was a fighter, one who led her pack into battle. She was used to living in the most desolate places. Locked in the city, surrounded by so many things that were alien to her, having her fellow warlords so far away from her… Janine was annoyed with this situation. She would never allow this to show up, however, and always tried to excel in her new duties, using her enormous vitality to meet with every petitioner. Ironjaw was hardly even sleeping these days. She was reading, studying new things, trying to get to the bottom of every problem. The locals liked her, but Janine once told Aranea that all she wanted to do was escape from this place. She was a relic of old age, and change was a scary thing for her. Ironjaw's requests to be relocated, however, were ignored by Wyrm Lord.
Aranea reported to the tired looking warlord and was genuinely shocked at how strange her leader's cabinet looked. An enormous axe was missing from the room, left somewhere in the arsenal. The weapon that was always by the warlord’s side was now tossed aside in order not to scare the locals. The warlord's armor was gone, and Janine was wearing civilian clothes for the first time in over a century. The last time she wore full civilian garb was during the memorial service to honor those who died during the defense of Houstad.
The most shocking change was the fact that Janine was clean. Her fur was washed out and gleaming with black. There was no sign of parasites on her. Three secretaries, two female and one male, all normies, were moving across the cabinet and nearby room, carrying documents for Janine to read or sign. The warlord was forced to learn how to use and type on the massive terminal. Engineers added a system on her personal terminal that accepted voice commands in order to take some of the burden off Janine, as it was hard for her to work with just one arm. Instead of the simplified terminals that were installed into the power armors of the wolfkins, Janine now had to work with a more complex machine.
A small room was next to the cabinet of the warlord, a tight space that barely allowed the warlord to enter and fit, yet it was the sleeping place and den of Janine for the past month. Rows of letters and a com device were on Janine’s table, and the warlord used each free moment to write apologies or call and make apologies in person to the families of the dead, both wolfkin and normies. A window behind her was tightly shut, Ironjaw refused to look at the poison-colored buildings.
"Dismissed. Janine waved her hand, attempting to hold a newspaper with the flamecaster and drink another cup of coffee with her good hand.
Newspapers were delivered from the Core Lands and Iterna. Currently, Janine was trying to read the latest news from the lands of their rivals. She could use the terminal for this, but the old-fashioned way seemingly calmed her nerves. Seeing the newspaper fall out of Janine's trembling mechanical hand again, one of her secretaries came to Ironjaw and took the newspaper in her hands, holding it so the embarrassed warlord could read it with ease. Janine had a hard time accepting help from anyone, much less from normies, yet the warlord forced herself to thank her subordinate in a mumbling voice.
"Warlord, we are planning to have a small party. You want to come…" Aranea asked, and Janine looked at her with mad eyes.
"Does it look to you like I have any free time on my paws? I have a meeting about the distribution of supplies to the villages of normies in ten minutes, a topic of which I know dangerously little. Then I must be present at the trial to decide what to do with conmen who drugged some children and used them to pose as families with fake disabilities to beg for tokens. I gave the order to hang the conmen and take the children to the orphanage, yet officials overruled me, stating that we first needed to have a trial. I also have to give an interview to the journalists from both Iterna and the Core Lands, a task that was ordered by Wyrm Lord. Then I must assign forward patrol parties. I already prepared the list, but the military command overruled me, stating that wolfkins can’t shoulder all the burden and that I must assign normies to patrol duty as well. Normies, who are too frail! No one here listens to or respects me. They ask for my orders, then overrule me when I make the orders. What is the point of me being here then?" Janine angrily drank the entire cup of coffee and grabbed the coffee pot. The warlord quickly began to drink from it, while her aides looked at her in surprise, "I don’t have time for manners. Send words to cooks, I will skip my meals today and in the coming days. I just need coffee. Lots and lots of it."
"But warlord, you need to eat…" One of her aides began saying.
"I do not have time for this duty," Janine cut her off, "Do not worry, I can go on for months without any food, I am used to this."
"Warlord, you also must come to the medics today for the rejuvenation procedures," The male aide stated, and Janine looked at her table and pile of reports.
"How am I supposed to find time for this?" She whispered, "What task can I sacrifice?"
"If you want to, I can help you with…" Aranea started asking, and Janine looked at her in confusion, as if she had forgotten that her fellow wolfkin was still here.
"Wolf hag, you are still here? Fine, if you want to do something, go and check on the wolf hag Olesya. Ensure that the cubs are unharmed, well fed, and, for the love of Spirits, keep wolf hag Olesya away from paints."
"About this, warlord…" One of the aides said uncomfortably, "Orders came in to allow wolf hag Olesya to paint new buildings in the same style as…"
Aranea quickly bowed to her leader and left the building before an explosion could happen. She felt pity for her leader. Rumors circulated that Wyrm Lord intended to make changes to the Wolf Tribe in order to make them more civilized. Aranea personally welcomed the idea, but for old timers like Janine, losing their way of life without ever losing the challenge was difficult. Yet the warlord was just too loyal to abandon her duties. The wolf hag quickly said a prayer to the Spirits, asking them to help her leader.
Before visiting the orphanage, Aranea quickly visited the barracks. She handed over her armor to the tech crew and went to take a shower to clean herself before returning to the cubs' presence. Aranea had to eventually call Marco for help, as she could not get rid of all the parasites from her fur, some of them had to be cut off from her skin. Marco's face was visibly pale as he finished slicing parasites from her flesh. He said that he would speak with command about the mandatory examination for all wolfkins. Aranea just shrugged it off. It was inevitable to get fleas, spine mites, and ticks when you spent all your time in the wastes of the Ravaged Lands. Some of them, however, were large enough to present an actual danger to normies. This was part of the reason why wolfkins preferred to live apart. Aranea checked the rest of her pack, ensuring that no one was fooling around too much, and left to carry out her orders.
The newly built orphanage was located in the western part of the city. This was a massive complex built in the place of four former warehouses. Worker teams clearly overestimated the sheer number of children without parents when they built this place. Barely one third of the vast complex was in use. This complex even had an actual underground bunker, in case someone tried to bombard the place. From the Core Lands arrived a few specialists to help with children, the rest of the personnel were hired from the locals.
The Free World had their doctor stationed inside the giant square building because of the new cooling system. Locals, children included, were so used to overwhelming heat that simple air conditioners caused some of them to catch a common cold. Aranea allowed the teacher to lead her into a training hall. As the woman explained to Aranea, by the orders of the warlord, this place was also to be set up as a school, as this building was one of the safest places in all of the city. Janine issued orders to hire teachers from Core Lands, but only people from the Free World and locals have expressed interest in teaching here, as few people are willing to leave the comfort of Core Lands for the scorching heat of Ravaged Lands. Janine has already made an official request to the Dynast for assistance in resolving this situation. The warlord also officially hired doctors from the Free World for a period of ten years, to help keep the city healthy. Once fully staffed, this whole facility will be in proper use.
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Aranea heard the laughter of kids before the doors to the training hall were open. The interior was well-lit. The floor was made of wood. Mats covered the floor of a spacious room. On the right wall, hastily made machines for exercise were carelessly placed. Two sets of gates were installed at the north and south ends of the room. Several balls were seen in a wooden crate by the wall. Boring-looking Siri and two normie teachers were standing there, making sure that no kids would break anything.
Olesya was standing in the middle of the room, and a laughing girl was sitting on her shoulders, held by the paws of the wolf hag. Aranea recognized this girl as one of those to whom Kate had been giving food over a month ago. Olesya's body charged from place; for a brief moment, both she and her "rider" charged toward the wall, before the wolf hag jumped high into the air and spun around. The girl's hair touched the floor during the spin in the air, and Olesya landed back on her feet, facing the center of the room, charging back to the middle, and stopping as if nothing happened.
"What are you doing?!" Aranea shouted, coming to the center of the room. Olesya saw her, and a wide smile appeared on her snout. She was surprised to see that both wolfkins, like her, were clean. She half expected, half feared, that Olesya would infect everyone with flesh-eating parasites by now.
"What else, we are playing the horsie and rider game!" One of the cubs showed Aranea a picture of a four-legged animal.
"You missed a pair of legs." Siri said in a sour voice, coming forward, "Everyone knows that horses have six legs."
"No, they are not!" Siri was shown a photo of the creature by one of the boys who dragged a large book.
"Eh, this is a creature from the pre-Extinction world. They are ex… somewhere else now." The scout corrected herself after noticing a glance from her wolf hag.
Olesya took the girl off her shoulders and picked up the boy with the book, passing him over to Siri.
"Here. You play the horsie role now, I need to have a talk with Aranea."
"Wait, what?" Siri blinked in surprise, clumsily holding the cub in her paws.
"And put your soul into it! I promised the kids that if they cleaned their rooms, we would play. If I return and the kids are unhappy, we will stay here until you get it right!" Olesya waved her claw in a joking gesture before leaving with Aranea, while the kids started chanting the word "horsie" at confused Siri.
"Is this about your scars?" Aranea whispered, nodding at the snout of her friend.
"These?" Olesya proudly touched the large scars on her face. "Nope. These make me look dashing. You've got to love yourself as you are, girl, or one day you will find yourself in despair. The reason for me pushing Siri around is that she still considers herself a wolf hag on occasion. Oh, she is loyal and competent, but I either have to beat these ideas out of her or try other ways." Olesya let out her claws, allowing light to fall on them as she looked at them lovely.
"I see that your punishment has little effect on you." Aranea joked as she shoved the other wolf hag to the side.
"Punishment? What punishment? This is bestest work ever!" Olesya jokingly lifted her brows, "My pack gets to stay in this such spacious den, barely has to work and can play with cubs all day long. Sure, we have to fix something from time to time and unload some cargo, but eh, piece of cake. We have the whole east wing to ourselves, we literally live like royalty!" She stopped, "Oh, and speaking of cakes. Make sure to thank Kate for the treats, the cubs loved them. I tried to find her to thank her myself, but alas."
"Yeah, about this…" Aranea quickly explained the situation to Olesya, "I screwed up big time. And have no idea how to fix this." Her shoulders sank.
"If I were you, I would have gathered your original pack. Lock them up in the room. I would take Kate by the nape of the neck, look her in the eye, and say that I am sorry and that she should snap out of this. And then not let her out of the room until she beats the hell out of me, so we will be even."
"That’s too extreme."
"It’s what I did with Velka and she fell in line just fine. Stop treating her with kid gloves. The girl is screwed in her head, removing scars, seriously?" Olesya said with annoyance, "Scars are cool, they are a sign of how tough you are. The world tried to crush you, yet you endured," She shook her head, "I will find her and talk with her myself," Aranea wanted to stop her, but the fellow wolf hag only snapped her jaws, "No physical harm will be done to her, I promise. I will just drag her to the pub and make us both drunk enough, so we can both cry our hearts out to each other. We'll have a girls' talk, as the normies say.
"No. Olesya, please leave her alone," Aranea said strictly, feeling a surge of aggression rising in her. If necessary, she will beat sense into her friend. "Not everyone can just shrug off problems like you. I need to solve this problem with time and care…"
"Care?" Olesya began laughing and nearly fell on her back. She stepped toward the wall, tears of joy flowing from her eyes as she held her sides, "Oh girl, how I like you. Please, never change. Care! As if we are capable of it!"
"Anyway, I only came here to ensure that kids are safe and you stay away from paint." Aranea snapped at her friend, embarrassed.
Olesya hugged Aranea in order not to fall, still laughing as both of them walked toward the door. The halfbreed punched her friend in the side with all her might, but the wolf hag only coughed and laughed. She continued to do so until they opened the door and came face to-face with a courier who carried large bags with him.
"Great!" The young man said, pulling back the cowl of his suit, "You must be wolf hag Olesya," He looked at Aranea, but she shook her head and pointed at the correct wolfkin, "My apologies, lady. The cake that you ordered arrived. Please, just put your signature here…"
"Cake?" Aranea asked with suspicion.
"Eh, one of the kids finished his chores but fell sick. This place is too cold for cubs cause of these damn coolers. Svetlana gave him something to feel better and sent him off to sleep. The boy was so angry and sad about missing the game, so I bought him something to keep him from feeling lonely in the medical room. Now, I don’t know much about treats, but I went to the store and asked for help. The owner was gracious enough to assist me in my selection," Olesya chuckled as she signed, "A promise is a promise, always."
"Ah… Is that so." Aranea began to laugh, pressing her back to the door jamb. Olesya looked at her in worry, "Oh, I get it. You wash yourself, you play with kids, and you buy them treats. I will go now, oh mighty and evil beast, please continue to show no care to anyone!"
"Please, wolf hag Aranea, let us not forget that one of us actually uses her power," Olesya almost purred, checking the cake before taking it from the courier, "If you think of me as a caring person, then by all means, invite me to a sparring session. I will show you such tenderness and care that you will never be able to forget."
"My apologies!" The courier said quickly, "I was not aware that I caught you in such a personal moment," He quickly pulled down his cowl and prepared to leave, "I wish you the best of luck in your personal life." The man hastily retreated to his vehicle and began to move away.
"Wait, wait, wait! This is not what you think it is!" Olesya screamed in panic as she realized what he meant, while Aranea collapsed on the ground, laughing her ass off, "What are you laughing about, you idiot! Now the entire city will think that we are dating each other! Damn you, now I will never find a proper mate!"
"Wait, you really want to find a mate?" Aranea paused her laughter, shockedly looking at the wolf hag. She never expected Olesya to be one of the people who wanted a family life. Her friend always aimed to become a warlord, Olesya always pushed to be on the front lines to excel and fight against the strongest foes she could find. This goal seemed incompatible with family life.
"To be honest, I mostly want to have my own cubs," Olesya shrugged. She carried the cake inside the building and returned to sit on the stone steps near Aranea. Olesya put her snout on her hands and looked forward, "Playing with and taking care of other cubs is good, no ifs or buts about it. But I kinda want more, you get my drift? I want to have cubs of my own blood, female or male, no matter, running, learning the world, and shit."
"That’s a beautiful dream." Aranea said quietly.
"This is not a dream!" The wolf hag stubbornly shook her head, "It’s a goal! Goal! One day I will be there, just like one day I will become a warlord. My cubs will be the most beautiful, the most handsome, and the happiest there are, and there is no way I will ever give them up to pits. No, they will have these "rooms", like the ones the kids here have, where they can play. And, of course, toys and books," Olesya sighed, "I haven't figured out how I'm going to trick the shamans or find a mate yet, but a girl can take her time, right? Janine had her first cubs when she was over sixty years old, so I am in no hurry." The wolf hag talked quickly, as if she was trying to convince herself.
"If you ever need my help…" Aranea started talking in a soothing voice, but Olesya jumped to her feet.
"OK, this is getting too cringe-worthy," Olesya admitted, her face flushed, "And it's embarrassing for me to talk about it. We will cross this bridge when we come to it. Sorry Ari, just… of course I will ask for your help when the time comes! Maybe I'll even name one of my girls after you. But right now, I need to deliver cake. I won’t touch Kate, but do tell her that she is welcome to come and help any time. Bye!" The door slammed as the wolf hag hastily retreated back into the building.
The halfbreed had a small smile on her lips as she stood up. It was good to know that her friends also have normal dreams. The Wolf Tribe was slowly changing, the younger generation had their own views on the future.
"You were wrong, Ravager," Aranea told herself as she walked toward the civilian terminal center, "We are not monsters. Imperfect, yes, but we will become better one day. All of us together will become better persons."