They’d spent the early hours of the morning packing up their supplies, getting ready to head back to base. The situation wasn’t clear quite yet, and the “emergency” signal they’d picked up had been fading in and out. Sometimes disappearing for several minutes, and often warping into something undiscernible. If it weren’t so obviously the SOS Summers had set up, he’d have no idea what it was trying to say.

That suggested that the signal was being interfered with somehow. Which meant that Pat and the others might have tried communicating over the handheld and failed.

That left Summers’ group with few choices, but first they had to see what they were up against. Summers might not be able to do much alone, but maybe he wouldn’t have to be.

“I know I’ve already said as much, but this is a bad idea,” Synel insisted.

“If you have a better one, I’m all ears.” Summers responded.

Synel looked at him strangely.

“I mean I’m listening,” Summers clarified.

“Then listen to me when I tell you that this is dangerous,” Synel said.”

“Isn’t that everything we do?”

“It wouldn’t be if you’d stop to think more often. These people just lost everything they had.”

“Doesn’t that just give them more reason to join us?”

“You would be wholly surprised at how little reason matters in these situations. I’m telling you, the less contact we have with these people, the better.”

That was probably a good point, still. . .

“You know I have to try.”

“I’m just cautioning you. It was suspicious enough they offered to treat with us so easily.”

Summers raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a little cynical, isn’t it?”

“My attitude is born of experience,” Synel shot back.

“I’ll be careful,” he hesitated. Inside the fort Asle probably wouldn’t be able to see him, meaning that without putting her in direct danger, which he wasn’t about to risk, he didn’t have an easy out.

“Don’t just be careful, be the one to act first. Once they’ve decided to kill you, you won’t get a chance to react.”

That was sound enough advice for a fight, but he still didn’t like it. Either way, their horses had been brought inside the fort to be properly cared for. They needed those horses if they planned on getting back to base any time soon. So, this was happening whether they wanted it or not.

“You’re right, I get it.” He looked at the fort in the distance. Things were so much easier when he could just shoot his problems. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

Summers approached the fort with a little more trepidation than he had before, Synel at his side. She’d insisted to come along if only for the diplomatic portion. Asle and Roan were waiting outside, prepared to portal him out if anything funny happened.

Synel had warned him they’d likely search him for weapons, so coming in armed to the teeth was out. But he’d managed to hide a sidearm in the small of his back. It turned out to be a non-issue. Ayra had allowed him in after only a cursory inspection, that was good since he wasn’t in the mood to explain his stony skin or anything else that might link him to the samr. That time would probably come for everyone he recruited, but these things were best done in small doses.

Ayra looked up from a spar between two of her soldiers, watching Summers’ approach.

“I was told you wanted to talk.”

“I wanted to make you an offer,” Summers replied.

She considered Summers before turning back to the sparring session.

“Not interested.”

“We believe you will be,” Synel interjected.

“Doubt that, we’ve no need for weapons,” Ayra shot back. She must have seen the moment of surprise on Summers’ face. “You rode in with the same armor as the samr, figured you might have more of their gear.” She glanced back at them. “Now tell me, why should I care?”

“We’re building an army, one that can fight the samr.”

“And you think we want revenge?”

Summers saw a flash of amusement on the woman’s face, Synel tensed beside him, indicating that was probably rude.

“Look, it’s obvious your people need help. We can give you that.”

Ayra gestured to the men fighting.

“Helfden, I have a new partner for you.” She looked back at Summers. “You want to make me an offer, show me what you have.”

Helfden separated from the man he was fighting with a large wooden staff. Probably meant to represent a spear without the pointy end. Summers looked to Synel, trying to gauge her reaction. She nodded to him.

“All right, fine.” Summers moved towards the other man, picking up a staff as he did.

Helfden inclined his head as he took up a fighting stance. Summers copied the bow, but not the stance, it wouldn’t do him any good anyway.

At Ayra’s signal, Helfden began the match, jabbing the butt of the staff towards Summers’ head. He leaned back, grabbing the staff, and snapping it in two without much effort. He wanted to end this without hurting the man.

But to his surprise, Helfden didn’t stop. Instead, he launched an elbow at Summers’ face. Caught off guard, it landed on Summers with a meaty crack, one that Summers didn’t so much as feel.

Helfden, on the other hand, fell to the ground, clutching his arm. Summers felt at the area, just to be sure he wasn’t completely numb to a broken jaw. But he was fine, and apparently much tougher than he’d expected.

“Huh.”

“Never seen a man break an arm with his face, but it worked,” Ayra commented, gesturing for a few of her men to help Helfden off the ground. Hopefully he hadn’t actually broken anything.

“Sorry about that. It was a good hit.” Summers replied.

She smiled at Summers, who returned it only to catch himself a moment later, straightening his face. He’d responded to the gesture on reflex. Elf etiquette was still fuzzy for him, but looking at Synel confirmed yes, he might have just been flirting with the older woman.

“Huh, and here I thought you were taken,” Ayra glanced between him and Synel.

“He is,” Synel interjected.

“Duel me for him?” Ayra leaned back, eyeing Synel.

Synel took two steps towards the spear rack before Summers’ brain managed to catch up with him.

“Okay, time out. Is that actually a thing?” Summers asked. Synel’s slightly less than blank expression told him it wasn’t, but she was about to make it a thing.

She really was the jealous type.

“It was a poor joke, my apologies.” Ayra raised a hand to wave off the challenge.

Summers didn’t miss the flash of a smile. Unsure if that was rude, or extremely forward, he made sure to keep his expression neutral all the same. Thankfully, the apology was enough to keep Synel from grabbing a weapon.

Summers cleared his throat.

“So, I showed you what I can do.”

“You did,” Ayra gestured to Summers’ leg. “Now tell me, is that also a weapon you stole from the samr.”

Summers looked down to see his pants were torn, showing just the slightest amount of grey, rocky skin beneath.

Shit.

“Yes.” Summers answered.

“That man you fought is a veteran, one of my best. And he couldn’t even hurt you.” She shook her head. “Mortal men can’t stand to something like that. To you. So, no, master Summers. I won’t be joining you.”

“Our weapons-”

“Require training, I'd wager.” Ayra moved closer, whispering. “Do you see my men?”

Summers looked to his side, at the soldiers around him. The ones that weren’t actively watching him seemed listless, some sitting even as they stared out into the woods.

“They aren’t prepared to fight, let alone learn how to do it all over again.” Ayra continued. “They – we, lost everything but our lives, and every day I see some lose even that by their own hand. No, I have no interest in another war. Revenge is a fool’s game, and my duty is to my people.”

“The samr won’t just let you stay here.”

“Maybe, or maybe they’ll have a bigger target to worry about.” She flashed him another smile. “I’ll have your mounts brought around, don’t come back. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about us.”

In the end, the group left without much fuss. Summers made sure to give Ayra the general location of the base, even if she showed no interest in joining up. It seemed that even the elves’ resilience only went so far.

Still, he thought about what she’d said. Sure, they could hold their own with what the army had left behind, but even the actual army had lost with all the training and resources they had at their disposal. Maybe just finding people wasn’t enough. Maybe, what they needed, was something more.