After some weeks, Arlendr had managed to make a great many small changes to his mountain. He had made well protected stashes, some in trees, some in the earth, and the best of all was at the base of the hopping spots. Those ones had to be climbed down to, climbed down the side of the plateau or down the smaller hopping spots. In little crooks in the rock face, he drilled little doors with locks on them. In all his stashes, he had little hordes of small weapons: sharpened stones, slingshots and ammunition, arrows. He had made many of these little weapons by hand. There were also backups locked away in a tin in the cave.

He had also, with Solveis’s help, completed one set of body armor, a leather set which tied with drawstring along their seams. He had begun creating a second set, since the design of the first, which he had rushed the production of, was difficult to get on and off.

Also, completely inadvertently, he had gotten the other young weekend inhabitants of his mountain interested in his preparations.

Livia, being so much younger than Girselle, had quickly become insufficient company for Girselle. Livia had the habit of growing disinterested in an activity and wandering off to play with baby Oskar or with the adults. Girselle and En found themselves in need of something besides themselves to keep them busy. So, the other children sought out the faun siblings and got involved in the preparations.

Arlendr began to call them his militia. He liked militia better than army; it seemed more like his own thing. He began commanding them and giving them all tasks. Solveis was glad that she had gotten a contract out of him before this turn of events. She would never have gotten him to be flexible in this state of empowerment.

He discussed bits and pieces of his ever changing plans with his militia. He gave code names of certain points in the island and drilled the others on their memory of them. He made them practice using slings, bows, knives, and swords (which were really just strong tree branches). This was a favorite pastime of all the children.

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At the suggestion of Solveis, they also began to learn how to prepare basic foods for themselves. They built a little stone oven and learned to bake potatoes and vegetables (mostly just potatoes). They also learned to cook meat over a fire. Girselle and En also helped by teaching the other children to perfect their skills at fishing.

Many more weeks passed, with no word from Sir. Lou Tin. They passed enjoyably, with drilling, cooking, and crafting, but still, it worried Solveis.

The children began to look a little more fit and active, not that they had looked inactive before, but still… En was the most noticeably changed, as he had previously looked most like a couch potato. He had trimmed noticeably down. His parents kept talking about how he must be approaching a growth spurt very soon. Arlendr’s already trim body lost what little fat store it had. Consequently, his small muscles became more visible. In herself, Solveis noticed the most difference in her hands, which were really becoming unusually defined for a little girl, because of her seamstress-ing.

The kids had been spending less time in the cabin too, partly because they were eating homemade potatoes for some meals. If their parents had been more observant, they would have been baffled and worried about kids eating less and looking trimmer. Admittedly, an observant parent may have been soothed by the fact that an unusual quantity of prepackaged snacks were disappearing. Truthfully though, those snacks weren’t being consumed, but being placed into stashes.

In the time that passed while Sir. Lou was nowhere to be found, Solveis’s worry changed into more of an uncomfortable awareness. She developed an interest in Brutoin and Yu. She was curious who they were and why they wished her and her people harm. She went back and forth continually between being worried for herself and her friends’ safety and thinking deeply about the motives of the intruders. What could have gotten them to want to do this thing?