The tent’s sheer size spans several thousand square feet to accommodate the various generals and officers that use it for strategy meetings. This also means it is heavily guarded, though not by humans. The entrance of the tent held at least a half dozen Oraeka heavily armed and clad in dense armor. Kutaru approaches the tent, silently nodding at one positioned by the main flaps inward. The man gives confirmation by returning the nod and enters with a flourish. Kutaru stands around outside absently picking at the rough leather he wears over his shirt of chain. He carries only a simple sword on his person, which he detaches the scabbard that held it from his waist to hold in his hands.

“Took you long enough to get here you know.” There was another guard standing by the flaps who was leaning on his polearm.

“Careful how casual you speak.” Kutaru smiles over at the Oraeka ally. “Head General isn’t too kind to that you know.”

“Ha,” A small snort from his chuckle escapes him. “Who would she behead first with her sword. Me for talking casually out of boredom or the Brig who was late?”

“You have a Corporal who thought Chaos was in the forests.” The words come out in a grumble. “Fib or not I had to be sure.”

The guard simply laughs. “Was it humans? The stress must be getting to them.”

“From what I’ve seen during my travel to this battlefield I would say stress is only one thing on their plate, and ours too.” Kutaru takes a deep breath as he re-clips his sword at his waist. “That’s why I was summoned here at least. Campaign to the north was successful so we must stop the war here at all costs.”

“Your presence alone should be good for morale, Kutaru.” He stops leaning on his weapon and beams him a smile. “At least that much I can say. Though if the Head Gen’ is here then why did they call you over?”

Kutaru smirks as the flaps open up, revealing the first guard who had entered. “I’m afraid that is classified information. Need to know only.” Kutaru quickly brushes any dust that had settled on his armor and follows the first guard into the tent.

The flaps close behind them with a gust of wind, sealing it through aura means so the sound couldn’t escape or enter the room. The guard gestures a hand forward towards the center of the tent.

“Mrs. Kazashi will see you now Kutaru.” He bows out of the way and stands in front of the tent’s flaps.

Kutaru nods at him before pressing into the vast space of the tent. With its design made for discussion about strategies, it was built with visibility of all parties present in mind. The center of the area had a long table that currently housed a map of the local areas. Surrounding the table were a dozen chairs and fashioned so that none were on the shorter sides of it. One of the twelve chairs currently held a patron to its services that Kutaru eyed warily. He recognized her as the current leader of the Oraeka in this joint army between them and the Humans. She was glaring at the map before her in deep thought, ignoring her platinum hair falling into her eyes from the side. When it broke her vision too much she flicked it to the side, revealing it’s long length sliding back over the plate mail currently donned on her body. As Kutaru approaches her crimson eyes narrow and flickers toward his figure.

“If I didn’t need you desperately right now I would chastise you for how late you are. We summoned you ages ago you know.”

“The roads aren’t exactly in pristine condition, Kazashi.” He pulls a chair out to sit across from her. “Neither are some Humans currently sane. Had a wild Chaos hunt that proved fruitless just a few hours ago when I arrived in the forest.” He leans forward towards her, placing his face into his hands. “That bad huh?”

She tenses and furrows her brow. “They’re fighting back tooth and nail, meaning we’ve cornered them hard. It’s become a stalemate out there and I can’t take the whole army alone.” She relaxes and exhales the air she was holding onto for too long. “At least you responded to the summon. I at least have some good news out of this side of the campaign for this horrific war.” She mirrors his motions of leaning on the object between them. “What about the other summons?”

“Well,” Kutaru sits up with a groan. “The humans are busy keeping the northwest out of Air Kraeka hands.” This information gets him a confused look. He raises his hands defensively before her gaze. “I was worried too until they showed a recent variation of a bow to me. ‘Crossbow’ they had named it. Capable of shooting larger shafts of iron or what have you, deadly accurate too. Even the Air ones had a hard time moving out of the way.”

“So from your group I only got you.” She pinches the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “I haven’t heard much from your brother and the other officers are trying to fight Kaede.”

The air gets solemn inside the tent at the mention of Kaede. Kutaru clears his throat first.

“Even I have a hard time fighting her. So she’s not here on this field? Something that holds up Mrs. Kazashi herself? The Glestel Kazashi?” He holds a smirk momentarily until a glare fixates on him.

“Strong as I am, I can’t fight these numbers.” Standing up, she leans further over the table to place figures about on the map. “We are currently based in camp here,” A figure slides to rest over a section named Tehle. “These woods have served us well in keeping us hidden and providing munitions for the humans. The few scouts that return, report that over here,” A separate figure that looks similar to a Fire Kreaka slides to the other side of the meadows representation. “They have forces of multiple types. Combination of all of them are on the field, save those that simply watch.”

“Chaos and Light.” Kutaru speaks the afterthought. Glestel simply nods in his direction.

“Correct. I’ve also attained the amount of force they’ve brought. They seem to be able to manage twenty thousand soldiers with more probably on the way.”

Kutaru’s cough interrupts her for a brief moment.

“I’m sorry did you say twenty thousand?! They only had a force five thousand in the northern region!”

“You see now why I had to call on quick aid.” Her gaze falls solemn towards the map. “After all the calls. After all we’ve done for them we can’t spare what was lost before our kind had joined them. Kutaru, you were my only reinforcement.” Her eyes seem to be stifling tears. The stress evident on her face focuses on Kutaru more.

“My brother never showed?” His voice raises at his commander. “I had a word he was already on the way! Did something happen to my brother from Kisuragi Desert?”

“I’m… have had no word from him nor any scout reports. I can’t spare anyone to go find him out there.” She avoids his eyes for but a moment.

“No… no that’s fine.” Kutaru sits after realizing he had stood. “I spoke wrongly, for it’s not your fault he’s late. Tell me then, what are the numbers we work with?”

“Six thousand. Fewer every time a scout loses a skirmish and none to back us up.”

Kutaru sighs, resting his head onto the table. He sits in this position for a while before Glestel pushes herself out of the chair. She paces around the table towards Kutaru and places a hand onto his shoulder. He looks up at her, locking his eyes into her, the crimson washing over the stress he had.

“I’m here for you general, May we right any wrong the Kraeka have brought on to the humans.”

“That’s the spirit I wish the human soldiers around me felt.” She leans back over the table beside him. “Right now the only reason I’m upset you’re late is that the main bulk of the army is already marching. We have a few officers leading the front along with small scouting bands running through the edge of the woods.” Glestel places figures representing each of these things in various places on the map for visualization.

“Lead by Oraeka I hope?” Kutaru leans over pointing at various breaks of the forest. “If our scouts die before they see many fortifications, then it must already have Earth made buildings. Have they mobilized Air scouts at all?”

“N-no actually.” The question seems to catch her off guard. She bites down on her lip in thought. “Meaning they don’t want us to see the point of origin. To answer your earlier question though, yes. I have squads led by Oraeka scouting the woods.”

“Then the only reason scouts aren’t returning is because they must have bands of Air and Fire. The Earth ones only sit in their fortifications or act as the front line, so they’ll be at their base of operations and in the main bulk.” Kutaru stands up before setting an imaginary battle onto the map. “General if I’m correct on my instinct, then we’re dealing with the leader of the Air. You said Kaede wasn’t here, and she wasn’t part of the northern campaign.” He sets down the final piece on to the table. His eyes meet Glestel’s. “Other than here would mean she’s part of the Jungle campaign. The monarchy of the Earth is on that uncolonized continent closer to their home.”

“So you think it’s the Air leader. That explains the lack of reckless Air use.”

“See Glestel, you’ve just been stressing without another good mind beside you. Look,” Their attention draws along the many formations he had made with symbols of scouts and alternate sides. The army of the Kraeka was depicted to move through the meadow in some box formation. On the sides, within the forests, there were droves of Air and Fire figures clashing with the Human army scouting bands. “With the low reserves of forces at hand, all they’ve done was force you to stretch. We must forget our own strengths and remember the Humans have strengths of their own. They’re incredibly handy at making things when they need it. My last question for you, General, is what have the Humans made down here?”

“Why couldn’t they have made you Head General?” Glestel walks over to a support beam and begins to dig through a satchel she had hanging there. What comes out of it looked like a well-worn parchment that she lays onto the table. “I’m only the strongest in relative. Take my power away and we’re practically even.”

“I beg to differ, Glestel.” He laughs while he studies what was laid on the table. “Wood. Support beams. Counterbalance… Glestel, what is this?”

Slapping her hand on the drawings, she beams Kutaru a smile. “This is something they call a… cat-a-pault… I think.” She reads back over it. “Whatever, as the name doesn’t matter much. The point of it is to send big balls of any kind of spell into enemy ranks or fortification. I haven’t used it yet for fear of the Kraeka finding a counter to it.”

“The minds of these Humans at times. Well, that’s great! So they invented a way to make up the area damage that they lack. No.. no this will make the battle more favorable.” He points to a spot on the meadow. “Here! There’s a major slope that would block vision for the enemy, which is a perfect spot to launch a barrage.”

“Then here we can be as the front offensive. The humans are better off utilizing their tools than we are, so putting them in the front would just kill them.” She points out all of the Oraeka figurines. “Our numbers are small but our strength is equal to fifty of the Fire.” She holds Kutaru’s shoulders in a firm grip, softly shaking them. “We must be quick. I’ve held off some of us simply for your arrival, so we must mobilize now. You there!” Her gaze lands at the guard by the flaps of the tent. “Send out the signal at once! We must assist the human’s mobilization of their war tools! Today’s the day we end this!”

The guard bows and promptly leaves the tent. The aura of the air fell to bring the outside noises in. Bells booming noise into the distance along with the audible rush of people shows they had been anticipating this. With a swift motion, Glestel has the map and parchment rolled up to pack away. After grabbing her satchel to store these items, she turns over to Kutaru and salutes him. “Raise as One!”

He returns the salute with a smile. “Respect the Order, Lady Kazashi!”