The thirty-second cycle since they unwittingly joined that garrison begins, they see that everyone is going to the fort's central courtyard, to get into formation. This happens every day, but not at the same time for all teams.
Each hut forms a squad with many teams arranged in columns, the front of each column is the leader of that team, there are no formal military titles among the members of the fort, they are not such a large grouping, but today Krastinaff and his group can see that garrison has close to a hundred members.
They have never had the opportunity to observe them all together, some have never been seen by any of Krastinaff's group, and they seem to be quite important by the way others refer to them, the fort leader leaves his private hut to inspect that grouping that has got into position, Krastinaff and his group can only observe.
"Hello everyone" the leader has his booming voice stopped by the walls of the fort. "Today is our counting day, as almost everyone already knows" the leader's voice remains firm. "This last season eight new members have joined us" Krastinaff and his group are curious to know who the other three members are, or four if Rikka hadn't survived.
"Among these new members, few know our newest guide stone, you can leave now!" the leader's order is firm but gives the impression of being kind at the same time.
From inside the hut comes a woman covered in gray robes and a hood, she removes the hood and Krastinaf and his group contain their emotions, it's Rikka, she's very different, her skin is still gray, but she doesn't have any streaks or other deformation of the whatever was afflicting her after opening that last door.
Rikka's left cheek is covered in a thin shield of beaten leather, Krastinaff and his group are a little wary to notice this, but apparently she is alive and well.
"Hello!" Rikka openly greets everyone in front of her, her voice is not firm and loud like the leader's, Krastinaff and his group recognize her voice even though she is a little more shaky.
"Now counting on her, we got three combat operational teams again" the leader's voice remains serious, but he looks excited as he looks at Rikka.
"Very well! Join your team now!" Rikka obeys blindly, Krastinaff and his group anxiously watches her friend's return, and they quickly get frustrated as they see her head to the last column on the other side of that grouping, and position herself behind those who were already there, Rikka did no mention of looking at her friends while she was walking.
"Now is the time to report the balance of our operation" the leader takes five steps to the side. "Mekerinn, report it" A dwarf of just over a meter leaves a column near the center of the grouping and heads towards the leader's hut.
"Excuse me sir" the dwarf respectfully addresses the leader and turns to the grouping with a loud voice, not as loud as the leader, and he announces the report with satisfaction.
"We have six months of basic food in stock and two months of complementary food; we have spare armament for fifty spares; we have raw material to manufacture up to twenty-one pieces of leather, thirteen pieces of steel and seven pieces of high quality wood; we have thirty-three first-rate distance fighters and eighteen second-rate." Krastinaff and his group try to understand that information, but they can't, they have very little knowledge of the composition of the fort.
"We have forty-three first-rate hand-to-hand fighters and fourteen second-rate fighters, we have fifteen first-rate craftsmen and eleven second-rate craftsmen, we have three guide stones with today's incorporated, plus four servants, and this concludes the report." Krastinaff and his group feel that those four refer to him and his group without Rikka.
"Okay, this is good news, we are a little better than last season, unfortunately no patrols have been successful in finding a location to transfer our base so far, we still have seven to fourteen cycles until the transfer, let's redouble our efforts on it from tomorrow." Krastinaff continues to pay attention to the reports, Amira and Susano discreetly observe Rikka without paying any attention to what is said, Ramon, still with his limited intelligence, is just keeping his posture, not sure why.
"You can have the rest the day off today, except for those who have to keep watch, dismissed!" Krastinaff would like to speak with the leader, but quickly he is surrounded by other members who seem more important, so he and his group head directly to Rikka who stays with her new group almost at the same place they were lined up.
Krastinaff takes just one step and he feels a heavy hand on his shoulder, is his last fellow foreman, when Krastinaff turns around, he looks friendlier than usual, his posture is relaxed and his voice calm.
"I don't recommend you do that, she's in a different world now, but if you really want to talk to her, the time is now, it's going to be very difficult for you to have another opportunity to talk to her until the next meeting, good luck now, it's just going to be you looking for supplies now." Krastinaff's companions take only two steps farther, before they notice that conversation with his fellow foreman.
"What's your name sir?" Krastinaff is already used to showing reverence to superiors, at least in his words, the man smiles for a moment and responds in the voice they are more used to, Krastinaff's companions listen in on the conversation and keep an eye on Rikka at the same time.
"You'll know, but not now pile of shit" Krastinaff knows that by default his fellow foreman is being kind.
The man walks towards another team without saying anything else, Krastinaff watches him go and feels another hand on his back, he knows it's Amira just by her touch.
"Come on Krastinaff, we have to talk to Rikka" Amira is worried, she saw that Rikka is well in tune with that new team.
"Yes, come on, but I suspect she's the one who doesn't want to talk to us" Krastinaff are approaching Rikka carefully so as not to bump into another member, by the way their last fellow foreman said goodbye, it's obvious that their condition doesn't changed significantly.
When they are a few meters away they see Rikka still talking to three of her new companions, they end up approaching shyly.
"Hi Rikka, we…" Krastinaff can't even finish speaking and he gets a savage kick in the pit of the stomach from one of Rikka's new companions.
"Now it's lady for you! Ass mouth!" Krastinaff doubles over in pain with such kick, but also feels great coldness from Rikka, Susano and Amira keep quiet, Ramon is almost growling.
"And you mangy mutt, be quiet before you get hit too!" Rikka's other companion is face to face with Ramon, he looks Ramon in the eye, Susano and Amira have never seen someone so confident in facing Ramon.
Amira wants to interfere to contain Ramon, but she doesn't know how, without being beaten, Susano gets between the two, in the little space that remains and is slapped on the back of the head.
"Get out of here snake fart, at least he's brave" Susano feels his neck burning, but pushes Ramon three steps back, Ramon doesn't offer resistance as he could.
"Never mind, I'll talk to these worms for a minute and then I'll be right back with you." Rikka looked a little different in her expression, but now they can't recognize her talking like that, they don't know why they're treated like this by others, but they didn't expect that from Rikka.
"Right, but any trouble calls us, we're going to teach this pile of rotten turd a lesson, to remind them of their places!" Rikka's new teammates move away in the direction of where the rest of her new team has gone.
"I won't waste time with you worms, so get out of my way and forget about me." Rikka is tough like she's never been before, they're stunned.
"What happened to you Rikka? Is it some trick?" Amira is lost, Rikka's grim expression, her voice serious, Krastinaff and Susano prefer to let Amira talk, even though she hasn't been beaten up so far.
"Shut up bitch! You do what you want, if you want to run away, run away, if you want to stay here and do something with the rest of your miserable life, do it! I don't care, the Rikka you knew is dead!" Rikka nods and all of her new companions approach with a sadistic smile on their faces.
"Alright, we'll find out what they did to you and then we'll talk" Krastinaff speaks with difficulty feeling the pain of the kick he just took, Krastinaff and his group walk away before Rikka's new companions arrive.
They walk a few meters and are stopped by the woman who usually accompanies the leader, since that day they came to the fort they don't approach her anymore.
"The leader is calling, let's go scum!" the woman's voice is almost metallic, but she's certainly alive, they can't really see her, covered in that armor she's an unknown.
Krastinaff and his companions noticed that the female population of the fort is small, maybe two dozen, most seem to have high standing within the fort, this one so far seems to be second in command, the leader and she never stay fixed in a group, they are always changing missions, and since that time when Krastinaff and his group were recruited they never went out on the same patrol again, Krastinaff has had a thousand theories of what goes on there, almost all have been discarded and the ones that are left he has no idea if they are correct.
Amira and Susano tried to gradually get as much information as they could for Krastinaff, but they didn't get anything meaningful, Krastinaff even tried to ask Ramon to hear people talking in the distance, but his limited intelligence prevents him from understanding the words clearly.
They reach the leader, there are some people beside him, the one who draws the most attention from the group is the dwarf who had made the statement of the operational balance.
"Is that what you're going to give me??" the dwarf is angry and loses his composure with his leader, Krastinaff and his group have already been beaten a little and are satisfied, so they remain silent.
"Well, that's what's left, I'm not going to spend good fighters on this crazy mission of yours" the leader looks sternly at the dwarf to put himself in his place.
"Right sir, I appreciate the help, even though this pile of trash is useless" the dwarf salutes the leader to say goodbye and turns to Krastinaff's group, Krastinaff is sad that he can't talk to the leader again, and he doesn't want to get his nose broke again for trying to talk to the leader without being called, Krastinaff and his group obey the dwarf and they go to the toolshed.
The dwarf grumbles and complains along the way to the helpers, who have been handed over to him, they offend each one in Krastinaff's group over and over again, the dwarf stops at the warehouse door.
"Wait here!" the dwarf's unnerved voice aches in the soul of Krastinaff and his group, they obey in silence but with curious eyes wanting to see what the dwarf is doing inside. The dwarf makes a lot of noise picking up some equipment, and after a few minutes with two pickaxes, a lantern and two machetes, he pushes the tools into Krastinaff's chest.
"Hold it tightly, if something falls I'll broke your nose again!" the dwarf is still unnerved, he leaves towards the armory, Krastinaff and his group follow him, Amira and Susano take half of the tools that Krastinaff was carrying, they fear of they also could get beaten too, even if it's Krastinaff to drop those items.
The dwarf takes more than half an hour to leave the armory, he is fully equipped, in steel armor from head to toe, a short sword in the scabbard and a shield strapped to his right arm, the Dwarf keeps complaining and muttering nonstop, he just orders Krastinaff and his group to take care of those items, by anger and frustration he curses them, clearly he has some important mission, and is keen to do it, but needs a lot of help, and sees Krastinaff and his group as useless.
"Okay, get your gear now and meet me on the ladder to tower seven, if you delay, black eyes and broken noses will come out right before it starts." Krastinaff and his group are hurrying to get their stuff from their cabin.