“Only a fool makes plans without a backup or three.” - Old military saying.
“So how is Grün today?” asked Reinhardt on the sixthday of the week. The battle had ended on the secondday, which meant that Grünhildr had wallowed in her grief for the last four days already. Tomorrow would be the last day of preparation before they departed to former Gestis territory on the firstday of the next week.
“Afraid she’s still out of it,” replied Elfriede with a shake of her head, a rare morose look on her face. Reinhardt knew that his wife was a bit similar to himself in that regard, that they rarely formed attachments to other people save for a very select few. It just so happened that Grünhildr was one of those very select few to both of them. “She’s eating more when I bring her food, at least, but the way she is… I don’t think she’ll be able to pull herself together in time for the next fight.”
“Not a good development, that,” muttered Reinhardt beneath his breath, though he knew Elfriede would hear it anyway with her keen sense of hearing. If Grünhildr proved unable to fight with them when they had to leave next week, he wouldn’t drag her along. That would benefit nobody, and forcing the burly woman to fight at her mental state was more likely to lead to disaster than anything.
Of course, Reinhardt couldn’t exactly leave Grünhildr’s platoon alone either. There were nearly two hundred mercenaries there, most of them skilled veterans since the platoon had a relatively low rate of losses and replacements, that would be a waste to not utilize. That said he doubted anyone other than Grünhildr would be able to lead the unit properly.
With how Grünhildr was as a rare Void mage and the way she led her people from the tip of the spearhead of the charges they did, it would be difficult to make those veterans used to her leadership to follow anyone else. The best case he could hope for was to temporarily break up the platoon and have its members distributed to reinforce some of the more damaged platoons, like the Third Strike platoon and Alycea’s platoon, but even that would come with some troubles of its own.
While most mercenaries were pragmatic and took well to reassignment or changes in command – it was such qualities that allowed the Free Lances to survive its near-annihilation back in Theodinaz, after all – there were still times where cults of personalities inevitably formed amongst them. Such situations tended to be a lot more touchy, as the loss of the personage said cults were built upon often had a disastrous effect on their followers.
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Grünhildr’s platoon was not quite a cult of personality, but they had grown quite a bit dependent on her as their leader over the two decades or so they had been together, since Reinhardt restructured the Free Lances after the Theodinaz campaign back then. It was amongst the factors that allowed the platoon to work as effectively as they had over the time as well, and separating them would degrade their performance no matter what, though having them fight without Grünhildr would probably be even worse.
Reinhardt was not expecting miracles. With only one day and two nights of recuperation time left – granted, it was one that the whole army needed given how they had been fighting and marching constantly since Kolitschei – chances were low that Grünhildr would be able to get her mind together enough to function properly as a commander once more. He sighed at the thought of having to go forward with a diminished capability, but knew that such things were inevitable in long campaigns.
It was already some miracle that his company had not taken more serious losses thus far.
Either way he would have to come up with a solution if Grünhildr proved to not be fit for fighting by next week. The company was in for the long haul, and they couldn’t allow things as minor – from the company perspective – as these to stop them, even if the people involved were personal friends to Reinhardt himself. He knew all too well to separate his personal feelings and business from the company’s.
Under the circumstances he could only hope for the best, and that Elfriede’s visits would do Grünhildr some good in the remaining time they had. Otherwise he would have to use one of the contingency plans for the sort of situation he faced. Those contingencies were things he planned out from long ago and kept updated every time the Free Lances reorganized themselves in some manner, typically when they added more personnel or platoons to the company.
It was only logical to keep such plans on the ready given the inevitability that they would be needed. Their job as mercenaries was a risky one, so he considered it foolish to not prepare contingencies for cases when they took losses, up to and including ones for if he himself was taken out of the equation. The envelope with instructions for such a situation was kept at the company’s common storage and clearly labeled to be opened and read by those who inherited the company in the eventuality of his loss.
Compared to that, handling the situation with Grünhildr was easier. The situation with Salicia was even easier given how the archer platoons were actually structured, and he didn’t even need to make any changes there other than giving Alva and Branka more responsibilities and powers compared to before, which was fortunate.
Personally, he was more worried about Elfriede. Salicia and Grünhildr were Elfriede’s closest friends – one could even argue they were her only true friends within the company – and he worried that she might lose her temper and good judgement without them, which in turn could lead to trouble if it happened during a battle.
It was an unpleasant possibility to contemplate, but it was his lot to do such things, as he was the captain of the company, after all.