As it turned out, Ramus was making good headway on remaking the panes. The practice he’d been able to achieve after all those initial blows had resulted in a fairly uniform technique that (while not perfectly identical) was reliably reaching approximately the same size and shape. There were some discolorations, some warping, all of which was to be expected with hand-crafted glass, but the overall product was coming along nicely. He’d also been able to recruit one of Larry’s troop to serve as an assistant to lighten his burden further: Rem, having grown tired of Larry’s constant yelling, had jumped at the opportunity for something new. By all accounts, she was taking to the work readily enough.

This did mean that they were running low on basic laborers. Even with Malar back on the crew, they only had a total of three in the free-roaming troubleshooting catchall that was Larry’s crew. With more miners taking care of the duties of hollowing out the mine, a number of the busier tasks outside were getting tougher: specifically gathering lumber and transporting it. The hunting pair was still nowhere to be seen, which meant that there was no opportunity to retask them. Frankly, Len was more interested in putting them to work at manual tasks and maybe trading for some meat as needed. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but manpower was what they needed the most right now, and if they could outsource some of the food production so much the better.

The problem with the fort really came down to the fact that it wasn’t designed for success. Not only was it understaffed and underdeveloped, but it wasn’t really the sort of thing that could thrive even without those hindrances. The local resources weren’t plentiful enough to do more than help them scrape out a meager existence, and any break in the chain would leave them ruined. It was the sort of thing that could drive a person to madness if they let it, but she opted to ignore that and focus on the fact that they were making progress. Spend a few more weeks getting things in line and then maybe have Astrid send some more misfits their way. Frankly, minor headaches notwithstanding, things were going pretty outstanding.

“God dammit, Meg, give me the axe!”

“Like hell I will, go do something else!”

Len was tempted to intervene, but this seemed like an excellent opportunity to see Larry’s leadership style in person. She leaned against the side of the barracks and kept an eye on the situation. It didn’t take long for Larry to come upon the two squabbling orcs.

“Meg, Gralk, what the hell is going on here?”

It was a bit amusing to see a creature half their size and a quarter of their weight at most snapping at them, but she hid that amusement to watch.

“This asshole’s trying to take my axe to wander off with it. I picked the axe, I get to do the chopping today. He can haul.”

“She only TOOK the axe because she knew I wanted to skip the hauling today. I’m sore, I’m tired, and I’m not gonna drag logs all day, dammit.”

“I’m just as tired as you are, jackass. We haven’t had a day off in weeks.”

That… was probably less than ideal. Len had been so focused on the immediate tasks of getting things back from the brink that she hadn’t realized just how long they’d been working. She made a note to address that and call for a rest day after the morning tasks were done. The general problem was that there was always something that needed doing and she had way too easy a time forgetting about basic needs of the rest. It probably hadn’t looked good that she’d spent much of the day camped out in her tent away from view. Still, this was Larry’s problem to resolve.

“Cry me a river, the both of you,” Larry snapped. “You lot might have accepted that you were gonna die here, and got used to just slacking around all day, that’s not gonna cut it any more. We’re not going to die here, not a single one of us, and you know why?”

“Because the boss won’t allow it,” they both muttered in unison.

“You’re damn right, she won’t. Have I told you about how she saved my ass?”

“Yes,” they both said, again in unison.

“She could have left my ass to die,” he said, ignoring their comments. “Instead, she put herself through hell just to eke out this tiny post in the middle of nowhere with you useless idiots looking to die in the most horrible way possible, and her continued survival depends on you handling basic tasks like hauling fucking logs for a bit. Why is it so hard for you to get it through your damn heads that we have a chance of making it here?”

“That’s great and all, chief, but we haven’t had a day off in two damn weeks. We need rest.”

“You’ll rest when the boss tells you to. Until then, you’ll work your ass off with the rest of us. Every minute we spend now reduces the chance of starving to death. I promise you, it’s not the way you want to go.”

Len flinched a bit at the certainty in his voice at that. Obviously, no one liked the idea of starving to death but, knowing his background, it was all too easy to understand that he’d spent many nights going hungry. The Orcs had no such knowledge of him but got his point all the same. Finally, both of them grumbling, Meg got to keep the axe and they went back to work.

“That was well done,” she told him when they were out of earshot.

“Turns out this leadership thing’s pretty easy,” he said with a grin. “Just talk like you know what you’re saying and they’ll go along with it because it’s easier than questioning you.”

“I’m not gonna let us starve, you know.”

“I do. We’ve had a couple setbacks, but this ‘greenhouse’ thing of yours is pretty cool. Not sure it’ll work quite as well as you say it will, but it’s got a shot. Just gotta make sure no one knocks it down again.”

“Yeah, I’ve got Curly keeping an eye on things. Gotta say, he might be better at sneakiness than you are.”

“Hey, I resent that!”

The grin proved the lie of those words.

“On the bright side, I think you might be a better leader than he would’ve been. You seem to have the knack for bullshitting.”

“Years of practice. Still, you’re probably gonna want to call that rest day soon. I get why you’re pushing us, but that won’t do us any good if they all riot before we get your stuff done.”

“You’re right. Hate to say it, but I’d completely missed that. There’s just so much that needs doing. I have a problem with hyper-focusing on problems and hammering away at them until they’re solved.”

“Yeah, but you’re dealing with people as well as a problem here. I meant to bring it up to you yesterday, but you seemed… preoccupied.”

“I was. I’ll tell you guys about it later. For now, just keep doing what you’re doing. We need lumber to get the frame up for the greenhouse. Marble can handle a day or two more of her normal method of feeding us. We have enough of a stockpile for a day or two, so I think I’ll have her take the day off too. Maybe I’ll do the cooking, let Cookie have a day too. Not that THAT worked out so well the last time I tried it.”

“Yeah, that place is his castle. Not sure I’d expect much from any attempts on that front.”

“Eh, I’ll come up with something for him. We’re getting closer to where we need. Just gotta keep at it. Anyway, I think today’s a good day for a half shift for everyone. Let ‘em know that you fought me to get it and that they should be grateful. Go ahead and tell the whole camp.”

Larry grinned at the prospect of playing the hero.

“Sure thing, boss. And relax, it’ll all work out. I trust you.”

“Thanks,” she said without a trace of irony.

The rest of the day’s work went relatively smoothly. The entire crew was relieved to have the knowledge that proper rest was headed their way with only Ramus seeming annoyed at it and insisting on continuing to work the rest of the day (though he did let Rem take advantage of the opportunity). Everyone was even more excited to learn from Len that she was giving them the next day off as well. There wasn’t much by way of rewards to offer besides rest, but Len made a note to ask Fenris to bring some better alcohol on his next visit, the weak mushroom wine that Cookie fermented was not fit for elven consumption in her opinion, and though the Orcs seemed to feel that it was better than nothing, it wasn’t better by much.

As predicted, Cookie rebuffed her offer to take the cooking from him for a day. Said he didn’t mind the work and, frankly boss, didn’t trust anyone else in his space. The hassle of missing out on some of the rest day didn’t at all compare to the hassle that would come from having to reorganize all of his things after some miscreant ran through.

Marble, on the other hand, was grateful to have a day to herself if Len was really sure that their stores could handle the rest on her part. Len was still having a bit of a challenge reading the girl, but the relief seemed genuine, and there really was no need for there to be more to it than that. The girl was literally their lifeline and giving her a break was more than the right thing to do, it was something that should’ve been done long ago. It was so strange that so much hinged on a girl that had been there since early childhood, but she took the responsibility well, it was something that Len wanted to investigate further, but couldn’t figure out how to broach the subject.