“How do you have vegetables this fresh at the start of winter? Any of the crops should have withered by now.”

Len hid a smirk. The greenhouse alone would’ve been a shocking sight to them, keeping plants well sheltered from the elements. Of course, it’d still be a slow and tedious process made all the worse by the waning hours of daylight as winter drew close, but it’d be a damn sight better than anything they had out here. Having Marble handy, though, meant that most of the challenges of traditional growing were gone, just so long as the girl was kept comfortable in her space.

“We’ve got a few advantages that help out, they’re not important right now. Anyway, all I'm here to do is be neighborly and see what you guys are up to, see if there’s anything we can do to help each other out.”

“Just like that? No tricks?”

“Just like that. Honest trade and support as we can. No reason we can’t get along up here.”

“I’d say the fact that you’re with the Demon Alliance is a pretty good reason, honestly.”

“Really? I don’t see those Armies of Light marching to your aid. Why in the world wouldn’t you make ties with other options?”

The man stared at her for a second, unsure of how to respond. Then his stomach growled, and his gaze fell hungrily on the food again.

“Look,” said Len, relenting. “I’m not pushing for anything extreme, not demanding fealty or anything like that. This is an honest gesture. I’m not gonna be doing this out of the goodness of my heart constantly, but I’m just here offering what we have to give to try and make some friends. If you don’t want to explore that further, it’s your prerogative but take the food either way. We have more of it.”

“What would you be wanting from us if we did want to ‘explore things further’? I’m not going to be selling out my own kind just for some scraps.”

“Wouldn’t expect you to. We’re pretty open at the moment. The Hovel is under new management, and I aim to do lots of improvements. That means that we can use pretty much anything from gathered sand for construction to ancient tomes of magical power. Really, whatever you’ve got, we’ll look into it. Hell, if you’re up to it, we’ll even take manual labor. The more the merrier, within reason.”

“That’s a very generous offer. How do I know I can trust it? You might be trying to trick us to capture us or worse.”

“Sure, that’s a possibility. I know for a fact that we haven’t always been good neighbors. I wouldn’t expect you to trust easily. That being said, I’ve done some house cleaning recently when it comes to my own troops, I’ve made it clear that harming any of you without a damn good reason is going to be severely punished. Problem is, all you’ve got to guarantee that is my word. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot by way of reassurances I can give you. I know you’re in a bad way, and that means you have every reason in the world to be cautious. All I’ll say is that the offer’s open and you’re more than welcome to tell anyone else to come our way if they’re so inclined.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“That’s a pretty loaded question, ain’t it? I could tell you that it’s because helping people in need is the right thing to do. I could tell you that it’s because I fully intend to rule these lands one day and it’d be much easier to get there if people actually liked me and saw me as a solid option. Really, though, it’s because I’m tired, cold, bored, and I want to be able to head back to a warmer climate. And to do that I’ve gotta hit certain benchmarks. Like I said, it’s up to you whether to believe me or not, but that’s the truth, honest.”

The man stared at her for several awkward moments. Eventually, he let out a sigh and extended his hand.

“I’m Valrin Krimson, head of what little remains of this household. No promises made, but I’ll consider your offer. You’re not wrong when you say that our options are limited, but trust will take time. Banished don’t have the luxury of making many mistakes.”

“Of course. Welp, that’s all I came to say, so I’ll be on my way unless you’ve got any other questions for me.”

“Not a question so much as an observation… you’re not like any dark elf I’ve ever met.”

“Can’t imagine you’ve met that many of us, so it might be best to limit your assumptions,” she opted not to mention the very good reason that she was different.

“Fair enough. Farewell then, Wraithwhisper, this has been an… interesting conversation.”

“Likewise, Valrin. Hope to see you around.”

She walked off with Curly, keeping her composure as best she could until they were out of eyesight before letting out an explosive sigh.

“Well, I’d have to say that went pretty well, don’t you?”

“You mean other than that part where you suggested that your ultimate goal was complete domination of the region?”

“Eh, best to be upfront about that part, don’t you think?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well too bad. I’d rather not have them claiming it’s some big surprise when I end up in charge of everything.”

They spent the remainder of the afternoon mock-bickering over the finer points of how the negotiation had gone. Both of them were relatively pleased with the results and Len, in particular, felt like there was little more that could’ve been done to result in a better outcome.

No telling what they’d get out of any of the Banished humans, but a connection was a connection and they needed all of those that they could get.

* * * * *

The return trip to the Hovel was significantly less gloomy for the pair than the journey out there. Most of the funk that had settled on Len’s mind had been lifted thanks to the reasonably friendly relations that she’d opened up and she was a bit more ready to take on the upcoming task of receiving the new troops. The fact that Astrid had been aggressively silent on the exact nature of the recruits she could be expecting (other than them being notably less than the cream of the crop) didn’t help her spirits, but she was feeling a lot more up to the task after dealing with a pack of skittish humans and NOT getting her head chopped off or having to run for her life. What could a pack of unrulies do to her when compared to that threat?

A lot, she reminded herself sternly. Too much riding on the upcoming events to be careless now. Needed to get the first batch in line before the second showed up so that she could be confident that the fragile peace that she’d secured with the troops held. It wasn’t a grand thing to consider, but it was still worrisome. She didn’t care for the alternatives that her mind was predicting, but even as she fought with herself to come up with a given plan for how she’d greet these new recruits, she was still pleased with the day.

“Thanks, Moe,” she said as they reached the gates of the Hovel. “I needed that.”

“I thought you might,” he said with a wink, then vanished from her side to go do whatever it was he felt like doing with himself.

Smiling, she did a quick round about the fort, checking in with everyone to confirm that nothing shocking had happened in her absence (it hadn’t), and seeing if there’d been any change in Valkar’s condition (there hadn’t). Reassured that the place hadn’t fallen apart without her, she retired to her tent for some rest.

“Hey, Len,” Keseryn greeted her upon her return.

“Hey, Kes. Did you enjoy having the place to yourself?”

“Oh yeah, it was an absolute treat having Larry stop by to remind me every couple of hours how grateful I should be that you took me in and that I’d better not cause any trouble for you.”

“That’s… a bit much. I’ll talk to him.”

“Don’t bother, after the third time I just socked him in the mouth. He left me alone after that.”

“Not sure violence is the right approach there…”

“Maybe not, but it sure felt good. Doubt he’ll be annoying me again any time soon.”

“He’s just a bit eager. Don’t take it personally.”

“If you say so,” she didn’t seem particularly convinced.

“Anything else happen while I was away?”

“Not a whole lot. Spent most of my time either reading or working with Marble to try and figure out that stuff she does with the plants. I don’t get it, and she’s not the best teacher in the world.”

“Well, she’s the only one you’ve got who can teach you that magic of hers, I’d avoid putting down her teaching skills if I were you.”

“Hey, she said it first, I’m just repeating it.”

“People are tricky, Kes, can’t always take what they say about themselves as permission to say it yourself.”

“Whatever.”

Len’s jaw twitched at that dismissal. Nothing quite like a teenager aggressively ignoring your advice to remind you that taking them in was a choice and it really wasn’t an option to throw them away. Accepting that she wasn’t going to get anyfurther with that line of conversation, she let the matter rest and went to her desk.

“So… did you want to do anything? I’ve been stuck on the road for three days and could do with a game of Chakar.”

Chakar was a board game that she’d gotten into playing with the girl lately. It was pretty similar to chess but with an added magical element that she was still trying to get the hang of. At certain points, given enough concentration and understanding of the composition of the game pieces, one could perform powerful combination moves based on the position of multiple pieces at once. Len was still getting the hang of it but had been a tad disgusted to discover that Keseryn was a downright prodigy at the game. Though they’d both been taught the basics of the game by Curly, Kes had taken to it faster and routinely mopped the floor with Len, who on a good night won one out of five matches.

“Sure, I could kick your ass a bit.”

Len mock-scowled. She didn’t actually mind losing at the game. She tended to see each loss as a lesson to be applied in the next match and did her best to graciously accept each opportunity to learn. Still, half of the fun of a good competition was seeing the defeat on the face of your foe, and she’d never deny Keseryn that treat. She pulled down the board and set the pieces up.

...

Seven defeats in a row. That’s how badly she lost. She had to admit that by the sixth defeat, even good-natured acceptance of lessons was wearing thin. She took the defeats in stride, along with the howls of victorious laughter Kes spewed when she set off a particularly disgusting 8-piece combination that decimated Len’s remaining pieces.

“And that’s how it’s done!” Keseryn cheered as the arcs of purple energy faded from the board.

“Yeah yeah,” Len grumped. “I’ll get you next time, human.”

“Sure you will, Len. Sure you will.”