When the light had fully gone out of the sky, they'd been able to get a small campfire going and cooking enough food for everyone, though Jenn suspected that it probably wasn't going to be as much as she'd like. At least not with the fact that they only had one fire going and she didn't want to stay up late enough for enough to cook so she could eat as much as she'd like.
She would have liked to have just spent the rest of the night quietly, but it didn't seem like that was in the cards for her as Tchisa seemed to be interested in conversing.
"Well, I assume you have time for rumors now, right?" she asked conversationally. "I mean, you're not doing anything else now, right?"
Jenn's mind raced for something to work with, something that would allow her to get out of this dialogue. Yet, after a minute, she could only nod as the only other option was to try and get to sleep and give up getting anything to eat. Which wasn't something she was willing to do right then.
"Alright, what's the rumor?" she asked unhappily.
Tchisa nodded as if she was satisfied with Jenn's misery. "The rumor is that a slave actually escaped from one of Duchess Versith's slave caravans and is living in this forest."
Jenn waited for Tchisa to continue, certain that there was more to it, but when she didn't say anything more after a minute, Jenn sighed. "Is that all there is to the rumor? It just feels a little underwhelming, I guess."
Tchisa chuckled. "I guess you really are from a different world," she remarked, almost thoughtfully. Although, Jenn knew that Tchisa was fully aware of her having come from another world, given some of what she'd learned when she'd looked into Jenn's mind.
"Though, the reason why that's significant is because that's never occurred before. No one knows how it happened or where that slave is now. So, I can only assume this fire was set by that slave. Especially since there's also rumors of someone who blends so well in with the shadows that they disappear into them as they steal food from passing caravans."
For some reason, Jenn couldn't help but feel like this rumor was more of a ghost story. Which she couldn't say that she'd ever really had much patience for. Especially when she could have been doing other things.
"So, what're you saying about this?" she asked, feeling like she wasn't getting the full picture.
"Just that I think the rumors might be true. If you can figure out where that slave is, you could possibly recruit them to either join you or help you free several slaves at once and have them join you that way."
While Jenn wouldn't mind helping free slaves quickly like that, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd be creating herself more problems down the road. Especially since she had a feeling that it would merely draw more attention to herself and her people. Which probably make it harder for her to get even more slaves to join her and help her increase the population of her people.
"Maybe," she said, not willing to dismiss the idea out of hand, regardless of what she didn't like about it. "Though, I would at least like to meet with this person if they do exist."
Jenn stopped talking there, not sure how to continue her statement from there. She couldn't say why, but it felt like her brain just wasn't being very cooperative at that moment.
"When would you like to go looking for the slave?"
Jenn sighed, feeling like she had to give in, at least with the search for them, regardless of whatever else followed after that. If only to satisfy her own curiosity of who this slave was and how they'd escaped. After all, if she ever got captured as a slave again, she'd like to have some means to escape on her own like that as well.
"Let's at least wait until we're able to find the village we're looking for and then get everyone settled in there, okay?"
Tchisa nodded, as if that's what she had been pushing for all along. "Should we have the same people searching for that slave as we have now, or would you want to make any changes?"
Jenn sighed. She felt like no matter what else happened, she wasn't likely going to get out of discussing this. Especially when she really wanted to just have some quiet while she waited for the dinner to finish cooking.
_
The next day started earlier than Jenn would have liked. She couldn't say if it was because of how late Tchisa insisted on talking with her the night before or if it was because she'd been more tired than she'd expected the day before of if she was coming down with something.
Regardless of the reason, Jenn was determined to not let the others realize that she wasn't at her best. Partly because she knew that those who knew her as their leader wouldn't be able to do their best with how much they'd be worrying about her while those who didn't might respect her even less if they saw that. While she didn't really care about being respected, she doubted that it would help her get things done at that point.
While the rumor about the escaped slave interested her, she couldn't say that it was anything that really caught her attention. She hoped it was true, simply because then she was confident that she'd be able to learn some weaknesses of the locks that were kept on the cages. Which would then allow her to not be dependent on her magic to be able to escape.
However, when they picked up on their search for a path through the bushes, or a way around them, Jenn wasn't sure if it was the increased light of a new day or that they had set up camp when they were almost at one, but they found one almost immediately. To the point were it almost felt anti-climatic.
Though, regardless, Jenn was determined to find the village so they could start making what repairs they needed to make it habitable. Which would then allow them to have a home for the winter in that world. A home that would be as secure as they could get, even though Jenn was pretty sure that it wasn't going to be as secure as she'd like.
Once they were past the bushes, it wasn't long before Jenn was able to locate the entrance to the village.
The village walls had been constructed by first cutting down some of the trees, in what at first appeared to be a haphazard fashion. Where it looked like they had fallen down naturally.
However, dirt had been piled up under the fallen trees so that they rested so that the only way to get past them was through the hollow log that looked like it had been made from one of the giant trees that had only grown partway to it's full height before it had been cut down.
From a quick glance, it would have appeared to have been nothing of any real interest, but Jenn knew that it's appearance was made to be deceiving. That she'd find the village she had been looking for in there.
"You know, if I'd known this was here, I'd probably made it my headquarters instead of those caves," Tchisa remarked as she followed Jenn into the hollow log that was big enough for her to walk through without having to bend down at all.
"If you'd known it was here, others probably would have known as well and beaten you to it," Yaelish remarked.
Tchisa merely shrugged. "It's a little away from the road, but still closer than most bandits would prefer," Tchisa replied. "And a little too far away from the road for any guard's preference."
"My concern would be who would know about it," Jenn merely said. "If it was well known, then I'd expect the village to have been repopulated rather than left alone like this. So, since it's not well known, then that means it's available for us to use."
"I'm not sure the duchess would see it that way," Tchisa remarked as they could see the light at the other end of the log growing larger.
"Whatever she thinks doesn't matter if she doesn't know about it," Jenn insisted, feeling like her own argument might eventually get her into trouble. Which she promptly pushed that thought out of her mind. She didn't have time to worry about what could go wrong. Especially when there was already so much that could go wrong with just her being in charge in the first place.
When everyone had entered the abandoned village, Jenn started directing everyone to check everywhere in the village. Mostly to get a quick assessment of how sound the buildings were. The concern was first to find which buildings needed repairs and which ones they could use right away.
Jenn felt like she should probably send someone out to let the others know that they had arrived at the village and were getting it ready, but at the same time, she didn't want to reduce the amount of people she had to make the assessment. As she'd like to be able to work at starting on what repairs she could before any of the others started to arrive.
It wasn't like the area of the hidden village was that large, which meant that any assessment shouldn't take too terribly long. Besides, there were a few other things to make sure of as well. Such as the spring that flowed out of the village needed to be checked to make sure that it was still clean enough for them to drink from as well as making sure that the 'walls' of the village were still essentially in one piece still.
If nothing else, Jenn was confident that everything that she had her people, and Tchisa's band, doing would be finished in a matter of an hour or two. Or at least Jenn hoped it'd go that quickly. If there were some building with serious structural issues, then it might take a little longer, but she didn't want to let herself contemplate that. As it would only add to the worries she was trying to ignore in the back of her mind, like how long it'd take her friends to show up after that dream conference she'd done.
What Jenn and Tchisa were doing while she waited was discussing what security measures they could make in the even that they were discovered. Most of it revolved around defense at the only entrance and exit to the village. Though, Jenn didn't like the idea that there was only one way out. Yet, couldn't think of how they could create another exit without creating another entrance that would need to be guarded as well.
"My lady, we've checked the buildings all along the eastern wall and only the last one isn't safe to enter," the first group reported to Jenn nearly two hours after they'd started, interrupting Tchisa as she was discussing what barriers they could use.
"Thank you," Jenn said, noting the gesture that the woman who made the report gave her seemed almost like a salute. Which Jenn didn't think she'd seen before, but didn't feel like saying anything about. Mostly because she was afraid of what she might start if she did ask.
"Secure the largest building that's sound and make it ready to be our command center," Jenn added as she was about to turn back to what she and Tchisa were discussing.
"Of course, my lady!" the woman replied, repeating her salute/gesture.
When she started to leave, Jenn noticed a few other groups approaching. Two of which were part of Tchisa's band, which meant that Jenn really didn't want a repeat performance of what she'd just seen. "You better handle these," Jenn remarked quietly. "Otherwise I'm sure you can guess what might happen."
"You probably could use your magic to tell me that," Tchisa remarked, stepping forward to meet the approaching groups. "You can't say who might overhear what or from how far away."
Jenn didn't like the fact that Tchisa was right about that. Nor the fact that she couldn't complain about it without either doing just what Tchisa had suggested or risk having others overhear her comments. Which would invariably risk exposing herself as the Blue Rose.
Tchisa handled the reports quickly and efficiently while giving them another batch of orders, similar to the ones that Jenn had given the first group. Though, Jenn was wondering if it was time to send someone to lead the others back here. Just, Jenn already had in mind who she wanted to have sent to take care of that: Yaelish. Only Yaelish's group hadn't finished their assigned assessment. Which Jenn was starting to feel a little apprehensive about.
When Tchisa finished giving orders to the others, she turned back to Jenn. "When Yaelish arrives, let her know she need to head back to the gate and lead the others here," Jen said, certain that if she didn't tell Tchisa this now, that it would only be a matter of time before Tchisa gave other orders to Yaelish.
"No problem," Tchisa said, turning back to the entrance. "Though, back to what we were discussing before. If we fashion a gate, while it'll be sort of visible through the other side, it'll also prevent them from being able to get inside here, while we can still get them with arrows."
Jenn knew what Tchisa was getting at, but she really didn't want to resort to that sort of defense. "Maybe we could if we were expecting an army bent on wiping us out, but I'm pretty sure that the most we'd encounter was a party of soldiers looking to scare off any bandits they came across."
Tchisa nodded, though she didn't look entirely convinced. "Besides, if we set it up like we're ready to fight, then the soldiers might be more inclined to fight as well, but if we set if up like we're merely stopping in this village as a way point or something, then they might be more inclined to take it easy on us."
"And what if bandits attack?" Tchisa asked. "You can't say that isn't a possibility."
Jenn nodded. "If they attack then we fight back. Even if soldiers come up after the bandits, they can't blame us for defending ourselves from bandits, right?"
Tchisa took a deep breath before blowing it out, making Jenn wonder what was on the older woman's mind. It felt like there might be something that she wasn't telling Jenn, but it also wasn't like she could tell what it was without looking into her mind. Which she had already repeatedly told herself she shouldn't do to an ally or friend.
At that moment, she wanted to scream. The restriction she'd put on herself in regards to looking into another person's mind was starting to get really aggravating. Whenever she even briefly thought about doing that to one of her friends or allies, she quickly reminded herself of that restriction and would not do that.
However, now she was having that come up almost regularly in her mind and she was starting to get sick and tired of it. She had her reasons for putting that restriction on herself, since she was pretty sure it would alienate her friends and allies if she peeked into their minds whenever she wanted to. It likely wouldn't happen right away, but she was confident that eventually be noticed and all the trust that she'd built up to that point would be gone. Possibly in a way that she wouldn't be able to recover at all.
Jenn felt the time ticking away as Tchisa didn't say anything. Jenn couldn't be sure if the other woman expected Jenn to look into her mind or not, but she still kept herself from reaching for her magic. If she did that, she couldn't be sure that she wouldn't start finding excuses to use it at other times and would eventually override her own restriction on herself.
"You'd be surprised how many soldiers have acted like bandits themselves. Sometimes they'll even remove their uniform so it won't reflect poorly on their liege lady or will just pick people up outright and make them into slaves. That's what happened to my home," Tchisa said after a few minutes, startling Jenn. "I only found out because after they either killed everyone else or captured them, I overheard the two in charge talking about how easy it was and how their lady would reward them." Tchisa turned to look through the hollow log that was the entrance to the village. "If they had been aware I wasn't dead, I'm sure they'd have killed me then and there, no matter how much I might have sold for or that I was still a child."
Jenn opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything. She wasn't sure what to say or even how she would say it if she could get any words out. She felt like she should say something, but couldn't get past that point. She wasn't sure if Tchisa even wanted for her to say anything, but eventually Tchisa turned back to Jenn, a smile on her face.
"If I hadn't met you, I'm not sure I'd have even thought of living a life where I didn't live as a bandit or thief. That was the only way I was able to survive after that. Though, when I went to a city, I still have to be careful of when they conducted their 'cleanings' so I could still avoid being made a slave," she said, her tone making Jenn feel less self-conscious about responding. As it sounded to Jenn like she'd made her peace with what had happened.
Plus, Jenn couldn't help but feel awkward with how Tchisa's statement made it sound like it'd be a long time, at least, since she'd joined Jenn's people rather than less than a week. While she didn't really object to the sentiment, she couldn't really say that she fully understood it. Not when they hadn't had much time to really be around each other that much.