A warm feeling of contentment filled Lilia as she sat with her back against a wall, basking in the afternoon sunlight. With long, slow strokes, she ran a cloth down the edge of her blade, checking it for chips. A warrior’s weapon was their most important item for staying alive in combat, and careful maintenance ensured the weapon would serve faithfully for as long as possible.

It had been a productive day, the villagers-

No. Not villagers any more, now they were just people. Potential cityfolk, if they decided to stay, but for now just people.

They'd found an old well, mostly still intact, with water at the bottom. Bo had climbed into it, and with the help of a small crowd and a chain of skeletons, managed to clear out most of the debris that had filled it over the centuries. It would need some more maintenance, but already they had managed to extract some drinkable water, much to the delight of the thirsty crowd. The river Seine ran through the other side of the city, but having a source of water within the small safe area inside the barricades would do wonders for making it seem more like a liveable home.

The skeletons that had spent the night helping the carpenters had continued to work all through the day, enthusiastically cutting down trees and turning them into a network of walls. Never tiring, never stopping, they had already completed an impressive stretch of barricades. The safe area now surrounded some six large buildings, stretching out to encompass the well at its very limit.

The rest of the people had spent the remaining day exploring the city, or clearing out the vegetation covering the buildings and unveiling the old city that was hidden beneath.

A voice to Lilia’s side caught her attention. “My lady?”

Turning to the newcomer, Lilia spotted a woman approaching her slowly, her head bowed and an armful of apples clutched to her chest. Lilia recognized her as the mother of the scared girl from the night before.

Lilia put her sword to one side and stood, smiling at the woman. "How can I help you, miss…"

The woman raised her head, looking nervously at Lilia. "Willa my lady. My daughter and I found an apple tree. I wanted to thank you, for what you did last night." She held out the fruit in her arms. "Here, please accept this gift."

Lilia accepted the offer gratefully and bit deep into the fruit. It was sweet, slightly sour, but delicious. Willa looked relieved and happy as she watched Lilia eat.

"If you want, we have blackberries too." Willa said. "Well, that's if Tina can resist eating them all."

She frowned for a moment. "Tina is my daughter, by the way. She's a real troublemaker, and your stories from last night have got her all excited to explore. I… I'd best get back to her actually, there’s no knowing what she's getting up to."

Willa began to walk away but then stopped, turning back to Lilia. "You're welcome to come eat with us any time, my lady. If you want." With that, she hurried off back towards the compound.

Lilia continued eating her apple as she thought. The people they'd rescued from the village really had pulled together. There seemed to be a feeling of hope, of new beginnings. Maybe Idia was smiling down on them from the sun, blessing them with good fortune.

Lilia offered up a quick prayer to the goddess of life, growth, and rebirth, something she hadn't done since before the war.

Please let this succeed. These people deserve peace. Reud deserves peace. I deserve peace.

A cry came from one of the men keeping watch on the wall. "The search party is back!"

One thought shot through Lilia's mind. Reud had finally returned. Grabbing her sword and slamming it into its sheath, she sprang into movement, running back to the compound and vaulting the wall, not waiting for someone to pull open the planks that served as a door.

Willa yelled in surprise as Lilia landed next to her, the apples spilling from her arms. Lilia shouted a quick apology before running off again, making her way to the southern barricade, beyond which her husband was finally approaching.

She nimbly darted up a ruined building and sprang across to the small platform the watcher was standing on, his shout morphing into a strangled squeak as Lilia slammed into the wall beside him. He stared at her in terror, his eyes glued to the purple glow blazing from her irises. Murmuring out another apology, Lilia turned to scan the southern treeline.

Two heavily laden carts emerged from the trees, each pulled along by a half dozen skeletons. A further five skeletons were dragging large wooden pallets, loaded with bags of bulging items. Tel was carrying a large chest, aided by two more skeletons, one with a pronounced limp. The humans of the group looked completely exhausted, a few of them snoring away whilst lying in the carts.

Lilia's eyes scanned the crowd until they fell on Reud. He looked as sprightly as always, not a hint of tiredness clouding his face. As his eyes met hers he waved to her, a smile lighting up his pale face. With an equally big smile, Lilia hopped down from the wall, dropping into a roll to avoid hurting her knees.

Striding over to Reud she pulled him into a hug. “Welcome home.”

“I’m glad to be back.” Reud responded. He looked over her shoulder at the compound beyond. “I see you’ve been busy whilst I’ve been gone.”

“We’ve been turning it into a home, instead of just a shelter.” Lilia said. “We have water, some foraged food, and even some makeshift rooms now. Though, we’d need the carpenters to fix things up properly.”

Reud turned slightly and gestured to the laden carts. “From the village we salvaged a selection of metal tools, though most of them need some repair. Also, a fair amount of flour, onions and beans.”

Reud pointed to the heavy chest Tel was dragging along, lowering his voice to a whisper. “We also have what looks like all the tax gold. A lot of money.”

“Sounds like we have everything we need to really get this city underway.” Lilia said, smiling widely.

Reud smiled back. “That we do.”

Behind Lilia the creak of the wooden barrier being opened sounded, followed by the excited babble of people streaming out to greet the returning party. Reud’s eyes followed the crowd before flicking back to Lilia.

“How about you show me how you’ve allotted the buildings, then we can get some of this,” he gestured at the carts, “put away.”

Lilia grabbed his hand and pulled him along. “This way then, my love, let me give you the grand tour.”

Together they passed through the crowd, eliciting a wave of stammered Milords’s and Milady’s. Finally free, they ducked through the squat opening in the wall and into the compound beyond. The area fenced in by the walls had been cleared of vegetation, revealing the cracked flagstones that lined the road. The buildings that bordered the road had also been stripped of the vines that covered them.

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The buildings themselves were in fairly good shape, mostly intact, if a little melted in places. Crude wooden shutters had been balanced in place over the windows where glass used to sit, keeping the worst of the chill out of the interiors.

“Luckily, this area used to be residences.” Lilia said as they walked through the compound. “Most of the inner structures are still serviceable. We boarded up any holes and cleaned them out as best we could. It’s a little cramped, but there’s space for everyone to sleep at least.”

Lilia stopped, roughly at the centre of the compound. Turning, she pointed to a larger building across the road, opposite the row of residences. “We have that building. I think it used to be a shop? Either way, it’s a little larger, and it has space downstairs to hold any meetings we may need.”

She turned again and pointed at the building they’d sheltered in the night before. “We’ve kept the theatre empty for now. It seems like a good place to store what you’ve salvaged?”

Reud looked at her, admiration in his eyes. “You’ve really done a fantastic job. Maybe I should go off more often, when I return you’ll have Srinaber back to its former glory in no time!”

Lilia felt a warm glow rush through her at the compliment. It was always nice to know she had Reud’s approval.

A loud scraping sound came from the door through the barricade. Lilia looked over to see Tel yanking the large chest through the opening, the other two skeletons pushing from the other side. A few tugs later and it popped free. The trio continued to drag the chest through the compound, drawing the gaze of the people hanging around in it.

At a gesture from Reud, they carried it into the house Lilia had claimed for their own, disappearing inside with their weighty cargo.

One by one the rest of the skeletons filed into the compound, carrying armfuls of tools, saws, hammer heads, arrow tips, a set of knives, and much more. They shambled across and into the storage house before exiting and going back out to collect another armful.

Lilia watched them bustle along, tirelessly shuttling the salvage into storage, never slowing even in the slightest.

They really were amazing workers.

Shouting from outside the compound drew her attention. The voice sounded like a man’s. Frowning, she turned to Reud, spotting the same expression on him.

"That doesn't sound good."

"Something we should deal with?" Reud asked.

"Probably a good idea." Lilia said, nodding.

Together, they headed back out to see what the commotion was about.

Outside the compound, a man was struggling with one of the skeletons, trying to wrestle a bag of flour from its arms, his face bright red with the exertion.

“... off! That’s mine!” He shouted, pulling on the bag to no avail. The skeleton took another step towards the compound, pulling the man off balance, sending him tumbling to the floor.

The man spat out an expletive and jumped to his feet, shaking an angry fist at the skeleton. He looked over the undead’s shoulder and spotted Reud walking towards him. His face went even redder and he stormed over.

“Your servants are taking all my food!” He yelled as he stopped before Reud, breathing heavily.

Reud stared the man down in silence.

Eventually the man broke the silence. “Didn’t you hear what I said. You deaf or something?” He shouted. “Your servants are stealing my food!”

“Your food?” Reud responded, an edge to his voice.

“Yeh my food! From my stocks! That I grew on my fields!” The man yelled whilst slapping his chest, a vein pulsing along his temple.

Lilia dropped a hand to her sword hilt as the man got angrier with each shouted word. His eyes were wild, rimmed with the deep bags that came from lack of sleep.

Reud responded in a calm voice, raised just enough to clearly carry across the area. “I see. So your neighbours should starve because that food is yours and not theirs. I’m sure they’ll appreciate hearing that.”

The man faltered, glancing around at the people filling the area, each one of them staring back at him. For a moment, he looked guilty, but it was replaced with anger once again as he looked over to the cart where a skeleton was hoisting another bag of grain onto its shoulder.

The man’s face went even redder still. “It’s mine and I can do what I want with it! If they want it, they can buy it!” He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth.

He stepped forward and raised a finger to jab Reud with it.

Which was absolutely the wrong move to make.

Lilia sprang into action, sheathing herself in magic to enhance her reflexes. The world seemed to slow down as she drew her blade, levelling it in front of the man, just barely resting its edge on his neck. With her other hand she grabbed his wrist, holding him in place, his finger an inch above Reud's chest.

All in an instant.

The man froze, eyes going wide as he stared at the shining metal that had suddenly appeared before him, the colour draining from his face.

“You will not lay a hand on your lord. Is that understood?” Lilia growled, squeezing the man’s wrist tight enough to make him wince. The man tried to nod, but the action caused the blade to press against his neck, and he froze once again.

Lilia held him for a moment longer before lowering her blade, pushing on the man’s wrist to force him to take a few steps back. She sheathed her sword as she glanced at Reud, hoping she’d made the right decision about how to respond. Reud flashed her a quick, reassuring smile before turning to face the onlookers.

“Until the city is back up and running again, I will be controlling the rationing of supplies.” Reud called, his voice carrying to everyone in the area. “This is so that each one of you can be cared for, even if you have lost everything. In Srinaber no one will starve! You have my word, as the lord of the city!”

Murmuring swept through the crowd as they digested his words. Reud turned to the man rubbing his wrist and glaring at him. “You will be compensated for your crops, but they are now the possession of the city of Srinaber. You will get no more and no less than everyone else. There are no favourites here.”

The farmer glared back, then spat on the ground and stamped off. Lilia watched him leave, narrowing her eyes.

“You’re going to have to watch him. He looks like he’ll hold a grudge.” She said to Reud, not taking her eyes off the back of the departing man.

“I’m sure he’ll calm down in a few days.” Reud said, waving his hand dismissively. “They’ve just lost their home, come far away to a place they thought was haunted, and most of them are exhausted. Tensions are understandably high.”

Lilia grunted. What Reud said made sense, but she couldn't shake the bad feeling she got when she watched the man storm off. She’d keep an eye on him, even if Reud wouldn’t.

Her husband needed someone to look after him when he was being too foolish to do it himself.