The tent was decently furnished, had a small stove in the center that vented out the top and provided both warmth and cooking surface, a small stack of wood was piled nearby for easy fueling. There was only the one bed, which she supposed was appropriate, but would be an adjustment. She’d gotten used to having the same quarters as the trio after the month or so of doing it and… no, nostalgic though she might be, she was not about to let herself feel bad about having privacy again. Still, just one more night wouldn’t hurt.
“Well, guys? Thoughts?”
“Kinda early to tell,” said Curly. “This tent’s stocked well enough, but nothing to write home about. The walls definitely need work. No way to tell the shape the mine’s in just yet, same for the other facilities. Probably could’ve asked a bit more of that Valkar guy, but it’ll keep ‘til the morning.”
“Pretty sure I saw a few eyes on us from that bigger building,” said Larry. “That’s gotta be the barracks. It’s got decent size to it, but I don’t think it’s full. Should be plenty of room for the three of us.”
“Let’s wait on that ‘til tomorrow,” said Len. “We’re still getting the lay of the land and I’d prefer to have you guys close on the off chance Valkar isn’t as okay with this transition of power as he claims to be.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Moe put in. “We’ll keep ya safe.”
She’d been noticing him shifting towards being a more eager minion as time went on and found it absolutely hilarious. She wouldn’t dream of hurting his feelings on the issue, though, so she kept those thoughts under wraps.
“Thanks,” she said simply.
They spent the rest of the night chatting and relaxing, enjoying the brief moment of limited obligations. The morning would come soon enough and with it would be new problems, new crises to manage, and new grudges to deal with but for once it was nice just to have a place that was truly theirs. Len even found herself a bit optimistic about her chances here. Sure, it wasn’t an ideal location but she had more hands at her disposal. Even had a mine of all things!
The first thing she’d need to do is get Kila here. She had no idea how far away it was, but she wanted her friend nearby and suspected that she could be put to good use here. She had plenty of other ideas racing through her head, but it was getting tougher to focus on them. Eventually, their conversations died down and Len was finally able to slip away into a restful sleep for once.
* * * * *
“Rise and shine, fearless leader,” declared an all-to-chipper Larry as the morning dawned.
“What the fuck, man? It’s too early for this shit.”
“Early it may be, but you don’t want to make a bad impression on your new troops, do ya?”
“Geh… why would you even care about a thing like that, aren’t you the perpetual loner of the group?”
“He was,” said Curly. “Until he realized that as one of your direct subordinates, he might actually get a taste of power now that you’ve got more people under your command. He’s already on the verge of going mad with it and he doesn’t want to miss his chance because you don’t instill the proper discipline in your new underlings.”
“Ah,” said Len, gratefully accepting a mug of something dark and warm from Moe. “All right, let’s do this.”
“Great! I told that old Orc dude from last night that you wanted everyone assembled outside, they’ve been waiting for ten minutes already,” Larry grinned eagerly.
She gave him a flat stare of disapproval, then rose out of bed, sipping the drink carefully. It was bitter and snapped her out of her daze quickly. Definitely wouldn’t hold up in comparison to any of the coffee options that she’d been used to before, but it was the first thing that came close to caffeine that she’d had in ages and she was grateful for it. Still, she’d need to do some experimenting of her own with it once she had some free time.
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“Welp, since you decided to waste their time, I suppose I should go waste some of mine,” she said, and strode out of the tent in the same garb she’d gone to sleep in.
Assembled outside were fifteen odd Orcs, mostly male, all looking malnourished, sleep deprived, and generally miserable. Most of them looked bored, a couple of them nervous, and more than a few of them openly hostile to her. What fun this would be.
“Good morning, folks,” she began, “You’ve probably heard by now that I’m the new boss around here. Your man Valkar made it clear that this isn’t exactly a rare occurrence, so I get that you’re not all that eager to give me the benefit of the doubt. That’s fair enough.”
A few of the more hostile faces softened a bit, but nothing much else changed.
“A little about myself: I’m a trained martial artist who’s beaten six foes in hand to hand over the past couple of months, I have some experience with low-level management, and I like cats. It’s going to take me a little while to get used to everything going on, so I ask that you do what you can to help me out today and answer any questions I may have. For now, I won’t keep you any longer, but over the course of the day I’ll be trying to get a moment to talk with each of you. Right now, though, I’m gonna head back inside this tent and finish drinking this concoction, it is too fucking cold to be dealing with this shit right now.”
The assembled mass dispersed as quickly as they were allowed, seeming to share her opinion on the matter. As promised, she retreated back into the tent and busied herself with the task of getting more of that bitter brew into her stomach to fight back against the cold. There were some basic rations handy. Nothing too impressive, just hard bread and a small amount of cheese but she ate it gratefully all the same. The bread was particularly tough but when she dipped it in the drink it was at least manageable. After two more cups of the stuff, half a loaf of the bread, and two or three bites of the cheese, she was at least ready to tackle this day in earnest.
“All right, guys. Game plan. Moe, I want you to find out the situation with the mine. See what we’re working with and what we’re gathering. Just get the basics and don’t ruffle any feathers. We’re gonna want these guys on our side unless they’re absolute bastards. In that case, bite your tongue and bring the info back to me.”
“Larry, I want you to get to know folks in the barracks. Don’t you dare go on any power trips just yet. I don’t have the time to save you from an unruly mob right now. Just learn what you can about the camp dynamics.”
Larry nodded eagerly but she did not like that glint she was seeing in his eye. Nothing for it right now, but if things got out of control, she’d know who to blame.
“Curly, I want you to scout the area around here. Not that I don’t trust these guys, but I want a second opinion of things.”
The elder goblin nodded and slipped out of the tent.
“And what’ll you be doing, boss,” asked Moe.
“I’ll be having another chat with Valkar. I’m hoping that the bulk of his reaction had more to do with the time we showed up than any real malice. If he’s the guy typically in charge around here, it’d probably be best not to piss him off too much unless we have to. Now then, off with you two, I need a minute or two to myself before I go deal with another guy who dislikes me just for being.”
The pair nodded and took their leave. Honestly, Len wasn’t worried at all about dealing with Valkar. He hadn’t struck her as someone who was actively rooting for her to fail (she’d seen enough of that lately to know what it felt like), he’d just seen enough failures that he expected similar results from her. It’d be interesting seeing his reaction as she proved him wrong, she thought.