Jack eased his way down onto the sleeping mat he and S'haar used as a bed. One of the few perks S'haar claimed as leader of the camp was a significantly nicer set of skins and leathers to provide a more comfortable sleeping arrangement than most. Jack suspected she'd done it more for his sake than hers, but he wasn't about to spoil her subtle act of affection by spelling it out. She wasn't the type to just up and say things like that, preferring to show her feelings through action rather than words.

Still, given his bad leg and how low the mat was, it took him an annoying amount of effort to lower himself down onto the bed. Finally, after his ritual of shifting his center of gravity and handholds between his walking stick and the ground, the human let out a sigh as he slowly extended out the protesting limb to stretch out the abused muscles within.

As she watched him settle into place, S'haar frowned. "I don't like seeing how much that hurts you. Should we talk to your sister about getting you a stronger dose of those pain medications you take?"

Jack smiled and shook his head. "No, a little pain when I'm moving like that, is a good thing. It reminds me to be careful so I don't make things worse. If I simply plopped down like you, I'd be liable to tear something and need even more pain meds to deal with that. But, most of the time, I'm fine, so they're doing what they're supposed to."

S'haar sighed and shook her head as if to say he was being stubborn, but Jack knew it was just her way of expressing concern, so he didn't let it bother him. Instead, he smiled. "Well, at least things went smoothly with Dek'thul. That could easily have been a major complication, but it turned out far better than I first thought!"

S'haar nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I suppose so. It's certainly a better result than that kovaack deserves... I just wonder if things will really go smoothly or if something else will happen to cause complications..."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Oh, like what?"

S'haar shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. What if B'arthon doesn't want to negotiate? What if Dek'thul decides to stick around and continue making himself a problem? What if I screw up and get everyone killed here in this valley? Maybe I should have just put that sorry old hunter to death and been done with it!"

Jack literally bit down on his tongue for a moment as he thought before responding. "Well, if B'arthon doesn't want to negotiate, then nothing's different from if you'd acted differently. On the other hand, if Dek'thul sticks around and worsens his injury, then he'll be that much less effective of a scout, and Lon'thul will dance circles around him. Finally, if everyone dies in this valley, it won't be because you did anything wrong. It'll be because we took up an impossible fight and failed. But we won't all die, of that I'm confident. It might not end up how we want, but I'm pretty sure the majority of people in the camp will survive, one way or another. The only question is if we surrender or try to do something stupid first. You not killing that 'old kovaack' might just give us the opening we need..."

S'haar narrowed her eyes in an attempt to pierce the mysterious veil that hid Jack's thoughts from her usual infallible insight. "What kind of 'stupid' things are you plotting?"

Jack smiled wistfully, looking into the distance as he spoke. "Oh, nothing well enough thought out to call a plan yet, but this is too unique an opportunity to waste. The capture and return of Dek'thul, the legendary hunter, will draw a lot of attention, and one thing any good magician knows is you always take advantage of a good distraction."

S'haar grinned jokingly. "I thought you said your people don't have any magic!"

Jack rolled his eyes at the obvious bait. "Magic, no. But we know a lot about misdirection, optical illusions, and people's willingness to accept the impossible as an answer if it seems to be the simplest explanation in the moment."

It took Jack a moment to realize the large carnivorous woman laying beside him was now grinning like the predator she was. Then, with some hesitancy, he finally dared probe into the source of her amusement. "What's that look for...?"

S'haar's grin widened before she answered. "You know, you're kind of adorable when you're being clever!"

With that, the predator pounced, and Jack was too distracted to continue plotting for the rest of the evening.

-

Jan'kul enjoyed his new role as the new master wood crafter for the village...mostly. He'd been the second most experienced woodworker in the village for a while now, and when he'd volunteered to work at the dragon's outpost, he'd thought it would finally be his time to take the lead, but then Lady Fea'en had decided to tag along.

Stolen novel; please report.

Not that he'd minded all that much. There'd been so much to learn and do that having all the experience they could get had been a real asset. In truth, they'd barely been able to keep pace with all the crazy ideas and designs that Jack and Em'brel had thrown their way. It seemed like every other day, the woodworkers had to come up with some entirely new design to accommodate all the principles and ideas being presented so casually.

But now, as a master crafter of the village, Jan'kul's job was mainly to teach the village's woodworkers everything he'd learned. It was still rewarding in its own way, but it lacked the excitement of the outpost.

Not for the first time, Jan'kul felt regret at deciding to return to the village rather than go with the rest on their insane but exciting journey, but as his daughter walked into the woodworking hall carrying his lunch, he knew he'd made the right call. She smiled as she set down the plate, reminding him of the many times Em'brel had brought lunch out to the workers. She was only a few years younger than young noble, and the woodworker couldn't help but wonder how the group was fairing out there in the wilds. But rather than express his concern, he merely smiled back and accepted his food.

Taking a bite out of the churlish flank, he also reflected that while the cut was better than he used to be able to acquire as a mear worker, it still paled in comparison to the food he'd gotten used to at the outpost. Not that he would express anything other than gratitude, but still... He opened his mouth to express his appreciation for the delivery, but his daughter spoke first. "You're thinking about the outpost again, aren't you?"

Jan'kul snapped his mouth shut and blinked a few times before responding. "What makes you think that?"

She smiled and hopped up on his desk. Normally, he'd be afraid such a small table might buckle under her weight, but this desk had been built by lady Fae'en and could handle far more strain than that. With an impish grin, she answered. "You always get that far-away look in your eyes when you're thinking about it!" Then with a more serious expression, "Do you wish you'd gone with them?"

The older woodworker pretended to think about it a moment before responding, enjoying this daughter's impatience as he did so. "Well, it was some of the most fun and interesting work I've ever done..." His daughter looked like she was about to say something, but he finished his thought before she could. "But you and your mother are both more important to me than what I was doing there."

Apparently mollified, she smiled again. "But you do miss it, though, right?"

Jan'kul smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yes, in a perfect world, I would have gotten to keep working there and move you all out with me once the outpost was fully up and running, but the world's not perfect, and I made the best decision available to me at the time. I do miss it, but not half as much as I would have missed you if I'd gone with the rest."

At that, the younger female beamed at him before hopping off the table. "Alright. Oh yeah, mom said you should stop by the hunting lodge to pick up some cured meat. We're running low!"

Jan'kul laughed and nodded, waving to his daughter as she went about whatever chores she'd been given. One of the other workers came up to his new boss, nodding in the young female's direction. "that's a great kid you got there. Wish mine would bring lunch to me while I'm at work!"

The craft master shook his head but couldn't help but grin. "You might have to wait a few more years for that. How old is she again, five or six?"

The worker grinned. "She's six and a half, I'll have you know! Plenty old enough to start carrying her weight around the hut!"

Jan'kul sighed at the worker's joke before nodding over at the map of the village he'd drawn up, another inspiration from the outpost. "How much of the village's hide huts have been replaced with wattle and daub?"

The worker looked at the map and thought for a moment. "I'd say a little less than one in ten huts are done. The work is simple enough, but we don't have enough people, what with all the usual jobs we have to keep up with. It'll probably take at least a few years to replace the whole village."

The craft master sighed. He had a few more years with nothing different than what he was doing now. That didn't sound fun, but fun wasn't what he'd signed up for. Moving on to the next subject, he continued. "What about the lathes I asked the metal workers for? Those should save us a bit of time on day-to-day maintenance."

The worker frowned. "Yeah, about that... Old Mar'kon wants you to try and explain to him again how it works. He's having trouble creating what you're asking for."

Jan'kul sighed again. It was too bad none of the more experienced metal workers from the outpost had come with the group returning to the village. Unfortunately, most of the ones that came back had only enough time to learn the basics, something as complex as a lathe was beyond their knowledge and outside the woodworker's area of expertise. Still, he'd try to explain what it had looked like and how it had operated again. Maybe they could figure out what the newest hangup was together.

Finally, realizing he was looking off into the distance again, Jan'kul refocused on the here and now, seeing the other woodworker grinning again before he spoke. "Your kid was right. You do miss it out there, don't ya?"

Jan'kul thought about changing the subject for a moment but answered honestly instead. "Yeah, I do. The work was unlike anything I can explain to you here. There was just so much to do and learn. It seemed like every day, I had to completely change the foundation of everything I knew to tackle some unforeseeable challenge. Not long ago, I thought I knew most of everything there was to know about woodworking. Now, I know twice as much, and I realize I still only know a small fraction of everything there is to learn about our discipline. Honestly, based on what I caught a glimpse of, you'd need workers to specialize in specific areas of woodworking just to cover the basics! If we lose those people in this war of ours, it'll take us dozens of generations to come back up with half the knowledge that'll be lost."

The worker looked at the craft master with an expression of disbelief. "You make it sound like there was some sort of god of inspiration at that outpost!"

Thinking back to Lady Angela walking around in that impossible metal body of hers, Jan'kul laughed. "You're not as far off as you might think..."