It had been 3 days since the feast had happened. At the end of the second day, the villagers cleaned up the area and put the decorations away. Now that everyone had their fill, daily life resumed with some struggles. Important jobs were mainly done by most of those that had fallen, only apprentices remained on the most important ones, while the jobs that needed multiple people to complete were only done by a few. No one could rest idly anymore as everyone had to pull their weight. To rectify this, the Chief called in all the important figures, as well as Nix, to the main hall for a meeting. Nix sat at the end of the table infront of the door, with Vern and Vela on either side of the table near her. An elderly looking Gnome sat towards the middle with empty seats on either side of him on the right side of the table. Skipping him, a female Wolf-kin caked in grey fur sat with her arms folded looking very worried. Across from her sat a Vyrin man with deep brown hair and fair skin like Drevid and his son.
Seems Vyrin are blessed with good looks, I wonder what the Va'Rish look like then. Nix thought as her eyes glossed over the man before looking at the end of the table at Drevid. He looked a bit solemn seeing the empty seats, but simply sighed and stood up.
"Let's first go over the introductions. Nix, you are already familiar with Vela and Vern. To your right, you have Elder Kajit, the head of agriculture." Drevid gestured to the Gnome, who gave her a gentle nod. His slight green skin was wrinkled to show his years. He'd still had the normal Goblin nose from the fantasies of her old world, but it looked more Roman compared to the sharpness you would expect. As Kajit nodded, his greyed black hair fell a little from his beanie, just past his eyes.
The Chief then gestured to the grey Wolf-kin, who by all accounts, was quite fit and well endowed. She'd only wore a leather crop top and leather pants compared to the clothed elder near her, which fit well against her curves and fur that spilt over them hems. "This Wolf-Kin here is named Ju'Shal, she hails from the Grey Wolf Tribe deep in the forest. She's our head hunter and leatherworker. I'm sure you didn't see her in the fight, but she was helping by firing arrows from in here." As she was mentioned, she gave Nix a gentle smile and a small nod. There was something else in the Wolf-Kins eyes, making Nix quickly turn away look to the Vyrin Drevid gestured to next. He also wore mainly leather, but had a cloth bandana wrapped around his forehead.
"This Vyrin is called Clark, born in a Dru'ven household and later driven out due to his Vyrin genes. He's the head woodworker out here. Due to his importance in the knowledge of the wood in this area, we couldn't allow him to fight." Clark nodded with a warm smile, closing his eyes as he did.
"Now that everyone is introduced, we will start this meeting off by telling everyone of the current situation."
As Drevid finished, Kajit slowly stood up and nodded to everyone. "Good afternoon everyone. To start, thanks to the supplies Nix gave to us, we have enough to feed everyone for up to four months without the fields. The problem is, winter will approach within seven months. You can all imagine my worries when winter approaches, as we already have so few people." The Gnomes voice was weary with worry, making his point well known. With only so much supplies, there was a good chance many would die during the winter. Even Nix understood that, and she had only just arrived.
Next up was Ju'Shal, who stood up with the same worried look as Kajit. "To start, the good news is that there are plenty of wildlife around thanks to the corpses left in the forest. The bad news, level 4 beasts and above are starting to show up to claim the territories that had been abandoned as the army was rolling through. We will need to start clearing them out once your wife gets here Chief." Her voice was a little scratched, adding onto her beauty of a wild wolf. These words only made Drevid nod as he held his chin.
"I'll give her a rundown of how things are once she's back with the others. Have you marked the areas?"
"Only a few, with only Gerard and I as available hunters, it was difficult just getting what we have."
"Noted, focus on the areas around us first." Drevid ended the conversation with Ju'Shal before turning to Clark, who sat up just as the Wolf-kin sat down.
"The last two woodworkers that I had perished in the fight towards the beginning. These, as you know, were Sheeva's parents. I will have to select a few more from those that return and train them up. In simple terms, it'll take until five months before we are able to build up a stockpile of disenchanted firewood." His voice was cool yet stern, reminding Nix of a revolution leader from her past.
Drevid nodded to him without a word. Like Kajit, he had no current solutions for Clark, only able to sigh before taking a seat as well. "Alright, now that we have a current look at what we've got, Nix, do you have any ideas?"
The sudden question made everyone turn to her with looks of expectations. This only made her fold her arms over her chest and raise her brow at Drevid. "Chief, how am I the one you ask? Not only have I just arrived, but I don't even know what these Dark Beasts are or what you mean by disenchantment. For the rations, my army in the past would only eat one full meal a day if we were saving up during the winter. The bare minimum would be one small meal a day and personal rations in case we suddenly need to fight."
Nix's retort was quickly overlooked by her answer over the rations and how they were laid out in her world. Everyone looked at eachother and nodded. They had plenty of time till winter, and could make use of her plan and working around it. Vern then raised his hand after clearing his throat to gather everyone's attention.
"We could give two meals a day to those with the most taxing jobs. The ones where you are able to get more breaks can stick with one meal a day for now. We want to have these rations last after all. And with Jennifer coming back with, what, over 40 people? We need to ration as best we can."
"That's true. Vern, you'll be in charge of rationing out. Pick a few people that can cook and have them help you dry meat and make bread." Drevid replied immediately, making Vern nod and drop his hand. He then turned to Vela with a soft smile. "Vela, can you take over your post again as Captain? Once Jenny comes back, we will need to train the soldiers and set up two separate parties. I'll have you be in charge of the defending troops and have Jenny lead the raid units."
Vela gave a bow towards Drevid with a stern look on her face. "I'll train them well. I'm sure everyone will work harder now that we are under threat of a much larger enemy. Nix, could you spare some time in the future to help me train them?"
"When I can, I need to fix my armor. Speaking of, where did you guys place it?" Nix asked as she raised her brow.
This question made everyone in the room smile softly, all of them turning to Drevid, who had the most reminiscent smile among them. "I'll show you after the meeting. You can think of that place as your new home and place to work if you wish."
Once more, Nix raised a questioning brow, but simply nodded in return as she'd decided to wait until later.
"Now then, let's start with setting ro-"
Drevid was cut off by the door suddenly bursting open, causing Nix to grab her rifle and suddenly stand. Everyone else stood as well, turning to the open door to see Stoll giving a bright smile. "Chief, your wife has returned. She's brought quite a few people as well."
This news caused everyone to suddenly race outside past Nix. Even Vern was excited, pushing past Stoll first and sprinting outside. Nix sighed softly as she slung her rifle onto her back. Now that she didn't have her armor, she'd made a sling out of leather to help her carry it around. Adjusting the new cloth shirt she was given, she followed everyone out slowly.
As she walked out, she found close to 60 people surrounded by the villagers. They drew hand pulled carts with various foods and metals. There was also quite a few carts filled with dead beasts of various sizes, their blood already drained. Various villagers hugged the newcomers and welcomed those that had came to join their village.
Stoll was found towards the back of the march, hugging a Stone-Folk woman, both of them in tears as they held eachother. Vela had jumped into the arms of a Tiger-kin, getting held off her feet by the much taller man as he sighed and rubbed her back. Drevid was resting his forehead against the head of a female Vyrin, who was crying as she looked down with a bright smile.
It took a while for everyone to give their greetings as Nix stood on the staircase. Upon seeing her, Sheeva ran up and hugged Nix's leg, who immediately rested her hand in the cubs back and gently rubbed it. Upon seeing this, the red-haired Vyrin Drevid ran to gave a sad smile and looked at Drevid again. All he could do was nod before walking over to Nix with the female in tow.
"Nix, this is my partner, Jennifer. Unlike me, she is a full-blooded Va'Rish." As Drevid gestured to his partner, Jennifer gave a warm smile and nodded to Nix.
Nix was immediately struck by her beauty. Unlike Drevid's olive skin, she wore an enviable pure white layered flesh. Her eyes were a deep emerald green that seemed to melt under her striking flame licked hair. Her hand came up, covered in a traditional plated glove that matched the rest of her plate armor. The armor itself was dull in comparison to her, made in the simplest materials and designs that seemed built for a more athletic type soldier.
"It's a pleasure Nix. Drevid has given me a simple run-down of your feats in battle. We welcome you as both our savior and new addition to our village." Her voice was cool and dignified, reminding Nix of the high nobles she'd watched in some old movies from her old world.
Clearing her throat, Nix took Jennifer's hand and gave it a firm shake. "It's a pleasure. You must be the Commander Drevid mentioned. Glad to see you've brought plenty of people back with you." Nix said as she looked to the back of the crowd. People of various races stood a little lost and shy as they were introduced to the other villagers, doing their best to hold exhausted smiles.
"Oh yes, we've gotten quite a few people this time. We will have to focus on expanding the walls in preparation for more houses. It seems a Scry has predicted this winter to be the worst, so many wish to travel deeper into the forest where prey is plenty." Jennifer explained with a sigh, letting Nix's hand go to rub her forehead.
"I'm guessing it's because you are a Va'Rish?" Drevid asked with a worried look. All he could do was wrap his arm around her lower back and pull her closer.
Jennifer gave him a simple smile and shook her head. "You know how it is, people need hope right now. Apparently the worst news right now is that both armies are going to collide at the edge of the forest before winter comes. People are worried."
"As they should be. Large armies need supplies, and if the villages towards the edges of the forest are discovered by either side, well, you can imagine how things could proceed." Nix sighed softly as she held her chin, thinking of wars in the past and how new villages were either raided or conscripted into various armies.
Jennifer nodded before looking around again. "Where's Drew? I haven't seen him around."
"He's sleeping with the other kids at Go'ler's house. We had a feast before you had arrived to welcome Nix and mourne those that had passed. I'm sorry we did it without you my love." Drevid apologized by kissing Jennifer's cheek, making her blush a bit.
"It's alright. The others will have time to mourne after the supplies are dealt with. How's the post-production going?
"We've just ended our meeting. I'll explain after showing Nix the old relics we've found."
As Drevid spoke, Jennifer eyed Nix's rifle with a squint. Realizing what her partner meant, she'd suddenly got a bright smile and nodded quickly. "So we've found the owner huh?"
As Drevid nodded, Nix raised her brow at the two. "Relics? Owner?"
"Yes, if you would Nix." Drevid said as he walked with Jennifer to the house on the left of the Main hall.
Just as he'd said, it was your typical mid-evil blacksmiths home. A quarter of the home was open, showing off an impressive furnace with all the traditional equipment needed for hammering and molding metals. Walking up to the door, Drevid turned to Nix and gave her a hopeful smile.
"A few weeks before you saved us Nix, a bright light filled this house. What was left inside, well, I'm hoping you can tell us." Drevid spoke before opening the door. The room itself was large, making up of over half the house itself. At the far end, stood a computer, a large metal table with her armor laid on it, and several other pieces of equipment she was immediately familiar with.
"Wait..." Nix paused as she took a cautious step inside. Feelings of longing welled up in Nix's heart, bringing tears to her eyes as she stared at the equipment.
This is impossible...just how...was this your gift, Mother?