Len spent the next several hours talking with Astrid. They spent a little more time talking about the specifics of the situation, but mostly they ended up talking about nothing particularly meaningful. She felt a bit guilty about eating up so much of the Lord’s time, but was still grateful just to have the time to bullshit with someone mostly removed from her current situation. It was more than a little strange to think about how she was basically just shooting the shit with the supreme leader of the Demon forces, but it was also pretty fun. Astrid had an odd sense of humor and the general shrouded context that came from a text-based communication made for a couple of touchy moments, but overall it was quite pleasant, and Len’s mood was much improved when the two finally signed off for the evening.

It was just as well that they had, for no sooner had Len folded the letter back up and marveled as the seal renewed itself, than Kila came back into the tent.

“That man,” she said with exasperation, “Is an idiot?”

“Who?”

“Malar, the supposed blacksmith. Doesn’t know a damn thing about keeping a fire fed, can’t be bothered to pay attention when hammering any damn thing. He was gonna get either himself or, more importantly, me killed. I sent him back to your goblin.”

“How’d he take it?”

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit. I’ll do all the work myself before I let that moron back.”

“You think you can keep up? There’s a lot that needs doing.”

“It won’t be a walk in the park, but I think I can keep up. What are your priorities?”

“Well, assuming you’ve got enough to get started, I’m going to need a lot of nails first and foremost. More mining tools would be good. I’d like to have at least one for each Orc here. I won’t have ‘em all digging at once unless we get desperate, but it’d be nice to know that we COULD do it if we needed to. Beyond that, anything that Ramus needs to get his operations running faster. Talk to him about any tools he might need and if you need anything from him, I’ll let him know you’re the priority. We’ve got other craftsmen here, so as I start putting them to use, I’m gonna need you to work on specialty equipment for them, but I don’t really have a specific goal in mind there just yet.”

“What about weapons?”

“We’re gonna hold off on that for now. No sense making the humans nervous before we have to. Besides, that’s the other reason for making sure there’s a pick for every worker. If we need ‘em, those’ll kill just as well as any sword.”

“Fair enough. Want me to work on any armor?”

“Only as a last priority. We don’t have a ton of ore to spare and I’d hate to just have it going to chunks of metal that I really hope we don’t end up needing to use. If you DO end up making any, do helmets first. Might as well have something that doubles as mining gear until and unless it’s needed for more violent purposes.”

“Sounds like a plan, boss,” Kila said, grinning enthusiastically. “This should be fun.”

“Have I mentioned how grateful I am that you’re here?”

“You have, but it never hurts to hear it again. I’m glad to be here, this place has some potential.”

“It does, but it’s got a lot of work needed before it gets anywhere near that potential.”

“Cheer up, Len. We’ve got this.”

“I’m not so sure. Pitch seems pretty confident that there’s more trouble here than we’re seeing. And… I’m inclined to believe him.”

She drew the arrow out from her desk and showed it to her friend.

“Someone shot this at me earlier today while I was out doing some wandering for my sanity.”

“Holy hell! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It missed, and they didn’t try again, but I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t shaken me up a bit.”

“For fuck’s sake, why didn’t you tell me sooner? You’ve been back for hours.”

“You were busy, I didn’t want to distract you from getting your work area set up. There are still a lot of questions with this and I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

“Well, I know one conclusion that’s pretty damn clear: someone tried to kill you! That’s a little more important than getting a makeshift forge up and running.”

“That’s the thing, Kila. It’s not. We need this. If we don’t take drastic steps to turn this place around, we’ll be dead in a couple of months. Every moment we’re not spending working towards beating the threat of winter is going to cost us exponentially. I don’t even know if this WAS an attempt on my life. It could just be someone trying to set us up for something else.”

“I’m not particularly interested in giving them a chance to demonstrate exactly what their intent was, Len. How can you be so calm about it?”

“Oh, I’m not the least bit ‘calm’ about it. I spent hours talking to Astrid of all people just to get my nerves back in line, and if I close my eyes for a second to think about it, my hands end up clenched into fists before I even realize I’m doing it. I am struggling to keep my grip here, Kila, please don’t make it any harder.”

Kila considered that for a moment, then her eyes shot wide.

“Talking to Astrid? You mean the bloody DEMON LORD Astrid?!”

“I don’t know any other Astrids in the area right now. Come to think of it, I don’t really no any other people on a first name basis besides the folks in this camp. So long as we’re ignoring the mortal enemies I’ve picked up since getting here. And Pitch, I suppose.”

Kila was looking at her as if she’d grown a second head or something.

“You were just chatting with the Demon Lord, and you didn’t feel like mentioning it to me? She was here?! Are you touched in the head or something?”

“Of course she wasn’t here. She enchanted a note that she gave me that let’s us write back and forth to each other pretty much instantly. It’s pretty cool, almost like the texting that I’m used to.”

Kila ignored that and continued to focus on the more pressing issue of her friend casually chatting with the supreme commander of all demonic forces.

“I really don’t understand the words coming out of your mouth sometimes, Len. The Demon Lord is a busy woman responsible for planning all the military engagements with the forces of humanity. You can’t expect me to believe that she had time to idly chat with you for hours on end after you had a near-miss with death.”

“Hey, believe me or don’t, it’s still what happened. I don’t entirely get what her deal is either, but she seemed perfectly comfortable killing an afternoon chatting with me. I dunno, maybe she’s lonely.”

“You think that the Demon Lord… is lonely.”

“I don’t really know what to think about her, honest. At first I thought she was just a stuck-up bitch, but I’m starting to think that something else is going on. All I know is that the instant she realized that her voodoo didn’t work on me, she took a very specific interest in me. Made a point of putting me on this assignment to get me out of the way for a bit while she worked on something. Again, I don’t know what the deal is, just that this is what I’m working with.”

“And you’re sure it’s her that you’re talking to?”

“I mean… I suppose it’s possible that someone else could be doing it. I don’t have the slightest clue how any of this is supposed to work. All I know is that the note was in the pack of supplies she sent me out here with, and that it uses some strange magic that I’d never heard of that most closely resembles something I’m used to from my own world. I don’t exactly have some sort of verification tech at my disposal here.”

“Wait a sec, what were you talking about with her ‘voodoo’?”

“Oh, that thing where everyone falls on their knees in worship at her awesomeness. I don’t really know what to call it, but it doesn’t work on me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s some odd thing to do with her position. Most anyone who comes near her seems instantly enamored of her for no obvious reason. She can be reading off a grocery list, and people seem to decide that it’s the greatest oration in the history of speechifying. Downright creepy if you ask me.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that. Just general word of mouth of how amazing she is. Not sure what it means if there’s more to it than that, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. Guess I’ll be doing my best to avoid her presence if that’s a thing she does, though. I’d rather not become some mindless drone at her beck and call, if it’s all the same.”

“No argument. I’m still feeling things out on that front, I don’t have any answers for you just yet but I’ll let you know what I come up with. In the meantime, I just need you to focus on getting your forge churning out some supplies. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course I can, Len. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“My best friend, duh.”

Kila stuck her tongue out, then took her leave.