Mitchell stopped moving, but wouldn’t make eye contact with Hailey, "It’s more like she found us really. We, uh… stopped them just before one of the checkpoints."

Hailey stepped around me and glared up at Mitchell.

"Luuuuke. What did you do? Why won’t you look at me?"

With an exasperated look, he twisted towards me, then to Julius, then back to me. He finally settled with his down facing Hailey. One arm came up over his shoulder and he let out a deep exhale.

"You said she was dead. So when some lady comes trampling through the woods claiming to be Commander Airis Vanixi, Pearson may have inferred that she could have been a spy… And she may have also pointed a sword at her neck."

Hailey continued to glare at Mitchell.

A single bead of sweat raced down his face.

"..."

Hailey finally broke the tension, "Well, she isn’t wearing a uniform. And I thought she was dead… So I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t believe her. But what kind of idiotic spies would try to impersonate two of the highest ranking members of our Divisionals? That’s just silly."

"Uh, yeah. I had that thought as well. It was a long day, and following them through the forest put us off schedule by an hour."

"Ooooooh you were late to check back in? Did Hanna rally the troops and race into the forest to save you?" Hailey chuckled.

"She did not."

Julius let out a cough.

"But it looked like she was pretty close to it, though." I chimed in, "They were geared up and ready when we came through that gate."

"That’s our Hanna for you." Hailey replied.

Hailey looked at Mitchell with a big grin, "Luke, why don’t you take Julius and square away a tent for these two. Set it up near mine—make sure it's a nice one."

"Will do. I’ll come find you once we get it setup."

Mitchell and Julius left the command tent. Hailey fell back into her chair at the table and let out a long drawn out sigh.

"That bad here, huh?"

"We have more problems than solutions, it seems. We’re a Divisional Army, not a logistics committee. I just don’t have answers for problems, unless I can cast a spell at it to fix it."

"It sounds like most of the issues are mundane in the grand scheme of things. I’m just guessing, but that group was probably all nobles? They like to squawk about problems and make them seem much larger than they truly are."

Hailey pondered for a minute, her finger tapping her chin. "They are all nobles." She stopped tapping and pointed her finger at me, "But hey, we’re nobles too ya’ know. I don’t squawk."

"I don’t squawk either, but that's because we’re a different breed than the political noble houses."

"Yeah, you have a point there," she got up and grabbed my hand, "Come on, I’ll show you around! We can get you something more fitting than those street clothes and leather wrappings."

Hailey led me around the camp, introducing me to everyone we passed by.

This woman is crazy, how are you on a first name basis with hundreds of people?

Everyone seemed like they were in good spirits. The camp had a large training area laid out with an endurance and agility course. There were some guardsmen practicing attacks against dummies with wooden swords.

Recalling one of the issues from the meeting, I thought those could likely be their duty weapons, and not just training weapons.

We finally stopped at one of the large tents. This tent was different from the others, it encircled a stone structure and smoke could be seen rising from the center. It was surrounded by a few wagons that were packed with crates. The clang of metal rang out from the tent.

"This is our supply depot and blacksmith. If we’re gonna get you outfitted, this is the place."

Hailey stepped inside.

I hesitated for a moment, but followed in after her.

In front of me was a large makeshift smeltery and forge. Two figures were working around the forge. A dark haired woman wearing a thick leather apron and a face mask. And a short, stout woman with long copper colored hair and goggles on her face.

I’m guessing that's the dwarf Mitchell was talking about earlier.

She looked up and waved at us. "Heya, Hailey. Who ye’ got there wit’ ya’?"

"Heya, Dori, this is Commander Airis Vanixi, the lady that made it possible for all of us to escape Axio during the insurrection." Hailey turned to me, "Airis, this is Dörien the Artificer."

Dörien put down her hammer and pulled her goggles up on her head. "Aye? This ‘ers the lassie then. Nice ta’ meet ya’."

The clang of hammer swings continued behind her as the other woman was still working. Dörien turned around and shouted at her, "Oi! Ye’ just gonnae sit back there an’ ignore Hailey?"

The woman gave two final swings of her hammer and lifted the steel she was working on up to inspect it. She then quenched it in a water barrel and walked over to us. She pulled down her facemask, "Afternoon Commander, and… guest? Haven’t seen you around before."

"Hi Rhia, this is Commander Airis. She was the one who stayed behind during the retreat from Axio."

"Oh is that so? I heard you were dead—actually come to think of it… Hailey, you were the one who told me she was dead." Rhia gave Hailey a scowling look.

"Aye, ye’ did tell us the lassie was dead."

Hailey let out an awkward chuckle, "Heh, well turns out I was wrong."

"It’s nice to meet you both." I gave a quick wave and nudged Hailey, "She told me you might be able to get me equipped in something a bit more suiting. I pieced together what was available, and you can see what I’ve currently got isn’t anything great."

"Actually, you may be in luck."

Rhia got close to me. Personal levels of close. She started looking me over. She grabbed my upper arm and forearm, and started squeezing.

"Oh yeah, you’re gonna be just perfect. I just finished the steel for a longsword. Nice quality blade, going to be a twenty strength requirement once I’m finished. Which is too high for most of the folks needing to be geared up."

Hailey clapped excitedly, "Wonderful! A sword works for you right, Airis?"

"I, uh…" I stammered.

I could use something a bit more close and personal. Especially if I found myself in another situation like this morning. Julius would probably appreciate it if I could back him up with a blade when things get dicey.

"Yeah, a sword would be perfect."

I’ll just have Julius run me through some pointers and maybe I can learn a skill or two from him with enough training.

"Great! Oh, and Dori," Hailey poked at Dörien, "would you be able to spice it up with some of your E and E talents?"

E and E, what in the Aether is that?

"Aye, ye’ just let me know what kindae enchants yer’ lookin’ fer’. An’ if ye’ got any materials for ‘em."

I was puzzled. But Dörien was looking to me for a reply.

"Oh, uhm… I don’t think I have anything like that on me. I don’t even know the first thing on what kind of enchants you’d even be able to put on a sword."

Rhia was heading back to the forge but turned back, She must have noticed the look of bewilderment on my face because she explained it for me, "Well, Dori specializes in fire and earth enchants and enhancements. So if you had any materials that are aligned with those elements she could imbue the blade with it."

I pulled my pack around and set it down on a table. A little bit of digging and I produced the fangs and scales from the demon-wolves.

"Would these work, or are there too few of them to do anything?"

Dörien put her goggles back over her eyes and inspected a fang closely. She put it back on the table and tapped it a few times with her finger.

"Hmmm."

She grabbed her hammer and slammed it down on one of the fangs. I flinched, expecting shards of fang to fly out everywhere. But there was not even a scratch on the fang.

"Aye, these‘ll work."

Rhia was back at her station and was working on the blade steel. Dörien took the fangs and scales and went over to her station and started scrawling something on a piece of parchment.

Hailey led me out of the tent.

"Let’s give them some time to work on that for you. We can plunder some of the crates outside for armor and get you fitted into something nice."

We scrounged through the top crate, and after about forty minutes we found a single bracer that looked like it would be a good fit.

Searching all of these crates on our own was going to be excruciating.

Hailey answered my unspoken call for help by calling over some soldiers who were passing by. She suckered them into our endeavor. A few crates later, one giant mess of equipment, and another hour's time; I had a full set of new armor.

Hailey helped get me fitted in a small tent nearby and we put my old gear in a drop-off crate for the blacksmith staff to take a look and see if it was worth salvaging.

LOOTABLES

"So, what do you think Hailey? Do I look like a respectable Commander now?" I strutted around a little bit, and flashed her a wicked grin.

"You certainly look closer to the part. Oh, I should have a spare uniform and set of insignias back in my tent, I can give them to you tonight. Then it’ll be official." She gave me a wink, "Let's go check in with Dori and Rhia."