"When you get the chance to take a break, to fix things up or make them better, even if it's a mere half a day before the fellas who used them had to go and fight for their lives again, you always take it.

Every little bit helps. Every single scale or chain repaired might just save a life. Fixing those little notches off the blades might be all that kept them from breaking apart. You'd be surprised how quickly a mercenary band might fall apart without competent followers to support them from behind." - Helmut Poerengard, blacksmith and camp follower for Horst's Hellraisers mercenary company, circa 3 FP.

Since they took Zefirous and settled the populace by thirdday of the week, the assembled armies had the remaining four days to rest and relax for once. Most of the army had done so, as they caught up to the rest they were short on after an overnight battle.

A few who had been more energetic took walks around the city. While much of the merchant district - especially the more opulent parts - were decidedly inoperative after the looting and sacking they had been through, the lower regions, where the poorer people congregated, were already back in operation.

For a city under hostile occupation, the atmosphere was surprisingly peaceful, and one full of hope, if somewhat tinged with worry and apprehension. That the dwarves had so freely shared food with the populace and even set up some field kitchens to feed them had won the hearts of many, and definitely caused the tension to deflate.

Varsha had also gone to work almost immediately after she was officially set as the probationary mayor. Many people Reinhardt would have pegged as members of the criminal elements or the less savory parts of the city patrolled the streets and kept order. Others volunteered and helped take over the field kitchens so as to allow the dwarves to rest.

Some of those dwarves in turn walked the streets on their breaks, as the sight of them became a common thing in the city. A few times Reinhardt spotted a dwarven soldier on break sitting alongside some of the townspeople by an eatery and chatted with them, even as the townspeople tried to talk back in often broken, heavily accented common.

The language barrier was honestly the biggest issue in assimilating the city. Even common wasn't commonly spoken amongst the populace, as most of them only knew the Holy Kingdom's tongue. Varsha's people were an exception, as she had made sure all of them could speak common.

Already he heard of plans to have people who speak common to accompany those that would migrate to the now empty villages, one to translate and act as a go-between with the dwarven settlers to come, and another to teach the language to the rest.

But where the city already began its transition to a hopefully peaceful future, and the fighting men and women rested their tired bodies, for other groups, the battle was at its most intense.

In every smithy in the city, the clangs of hammers on metal resounded. Blacksmiths, both local and those affiliated with the occupying army were busy at work as they repaired weapons and armor, and in a few cases, made new ones.

Fletchers busied themselves as well, as they turned a collection of trunks and branches, feathers and glue, as well as pre-made or repaired arrowheads into functional arrows by the bundle. A couple of fletchers from the Free Lances drew odd looks as they worked and crafted oversized arrows the size of a small javelin for a certain someone.

Armorers repaired damaged gambesons and leathers that were still salvageable, and otherwise made new ones as they recycled the materials as best they could. The days between battles were always the most hectic for these people, as they worked to make sure their fighters would go into the next battle in the best shape possible.

Where those working for the army focused on repairs, the blacksmiths of the Free Lances worked together with their armorers, as they crafted suits of brigandine mail sized for the massive group of people under Mischka's command.

Due to their size, many of them had gone into battle mostly wearing gambesons or quilted leathers, as it was difficult and prohibitively expensive to get a blacksmith working on proper armor they could fit into.

With all the battlefield salvage they acquired so far, however, money and materials weren't a big worry. Reinhardt and Lars had both agreed that the bulky, physically intimidating group would be even more effective had they been properly armored, and as such they had set their followers to make it so.

Already the first few suits - tailored to match their wearers - had been finished, while blacksmiths worked to make the plates to be riveted inside the layers of the armor by the armorers.

Mischka wore one of the first suits as she gave a few test swings with her massive blade. The brigandine covered her whole torso, upper arms, and fell far enough to also cover the top half of her trunk-like thighs. Her forearms were covered with bracers made similarly, extending into fingerless gloves that covered the back of her paws.

Other suits, individually tailored, were being finished as well. One for Yuri even had an extra sleeve to cover his trunk with.

By the time the seventhday came, the day the third wave of the dwarven offense grouped with them and a day before they set out towards the west, the Free Lances were prepared for battle, better equipped than before by a long shot. Many of their smiths and armorers were in a deep, exhausted sleep after the last few days of hard labor.

On firstday morning the next week, the army departed from Zefirous, forty thousand strong as they marched westward. A garrison of five thousand was left behind, along with the couple thousand wounded, and many of the townspeople even saw them off as they marched.