Shadows at the Dawn - Part 29

Remmus sat behind the desk in the small study that had suddenly become his office. His father-in-law may consider what he did easy, but to Remmus, it was completely alien. He found himself wondering quite often if his parents and sister actually had to deal with all the little mundane things he was trying to cram into his brain. Somehow he suspected they did, and if he had stayed there, he would have learned them as well. He looked up as the steward entered the room.

"How go your studies today Master Remmus?"

"Menlaus, I don't know if I'll ever remember all of this."

"That is why you have someone like me." The older man smiled.

"As long as you're not planning on retirement any time soon," Remmus grumbled.

"Well ... now that you mention it ..."

Remmus looked up slightly panicked, only to catch the mischievous glint in the man's eyes. "Don't do that to me! I'd be completely lost without someone here to help me."

"Fear not young master, I would give you plenty of advanced warning before doing so, as well as training my own replacement."

"That would work." Remmus fidgeted slightly in his chair. "Menlaus, this is probably going to sound stupid - but is there anything other than Master that you all could call me? Calling me a master makes about as much sense as calling me king. I'm not royalty."

"You have been ever since you married our princess sir."

"I'm no prince either. I'm some star struck idiot from the Void who had no idea what he was getting himself into."

"I doubt very much you are an idiot sir. I believe there are very few who could have done what you have in coming here. Just give it some time to sink in."

"I wasn't trained for all ... this ... I was trained to fight, to lead men into battle. Sometimes, this is all so very strange."

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"How is he holding up father?" Pluto asked, one hand absently playing with her hair.

"Remmus will survive, though I believe he feels otherwise at the moment. Menlaus is taking very good care of him." He smiled at her. "Would you believe that his biggest concern is that he's not royalty and doesn't feel he deserves any sort of title? I had to tell him that 'Husband to Princess Pluto' was a little too long of a title."

"It is different for him, perhaps I should have prepared him better before we married."

"Nonsense, no need for the two of you to worry about things like that before hand. He has plenty of time to get used to the idea he is indeed one of us now. Though you may find that when I'm gone and you become queen he still won't like the idea of being called a king."

Pluto's gentle laugh drifted through the swirling mists around them. The picture in her mind of her poor overwhelmed husband, a reluctant ruler, was rather amusing.

"Speaking of which, you'll be heading back there tomorrow. Perhaps a face that is not mine, nor Menlaus', will make things easier on him."

"But, my duties here ..."

"I have not yet given everything up to you, and I can pull my rank as king and father to give you some time with your husband."

"Thank you." Pluto smiled and gave her father a quick hug.

"So, what's been going on in here?"

"Very little. The voices are still as quiet as before, and I've felt no other disturbances. All is well."

"We can hope it stays that way. And the future?"

"There are many." Pluto was hesitant.

"What is troubling you?"

"I ... I haven't really wanted to look at it much. I only look briefly at the futures that will occur soon, and many of them are dark and clouded. I don't know what it means, and that scares me."

"I will see what I can learn then."

"Why do we even bother? We can't take action based on what we see. We can only watch and wait."

"It is true that we cannot do anything in regards to what we may or may not see. And we can tell no one, we can give no guidance for fear of making a mess within the time lines. We may not always like what we see, but we look to remind ourselves that even for us - the guardians of time - that we are not in control." King Pluto paused. "Life will take whatever direction it desires, and we cannot change its mind to suit our purposes. We can only study it and observe it, though we may never fully understand it."

"Each decision we make creates many paths of what was, and what could have been, and what is ... but we can never choose what we want." Pluto mused.

"You chose to spend time getting to know Remmus. You chose to love him. You chose to marry him - how is that not choosing what future you want for yourself? We may be able to see everything that came before us, and what may come to be after us - but we can only ever live in the present daughter."

"Except when we're here and are sitting outside the flows of time."

"Even here time flows around us. But come, even guardians of time have to eat."

"You've been around Remmus too much lately father," Pluto replied with a laugh.

"Perhaps, but he is nice to have around."

"Yes, he is."

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Zeeda looked down at the stack of reports sitting on the desk. They were normal and routine, but she still did not like what she saw. Commander Harper was doing his best, but they had six squads at barely half strength and too few new recruits coming in to fill the empty spaces. For this problem, she had no solution, other than to consolidate the remaining half strength squads into full ones. That still did not solve the problem of there not being enough men. Clan Capartha was in even worse condition, though they had not had as many troops to begin with.

The war was finally taking its toll on them, and no one liked what they saw building on the horizon. Even the arrival of a new year coming in less than a month brought them little hope. Once again, she found her thoughts drifting towards all she knew of the Far'Merat and the soul barriers. As much as she had told everyone that knew she held hope they would be victorious, something deep within just did not believe it anymore. No clan was at full strength - in any quadrant of the void if the rumors were true. Zeeda wondered if there were other women like her in those far away clans, or if she truly was the last hope for everyone.

Once again, she was the only one there. Lienta had been called off to assist his father, taking only First Squad, who now saw their primary duty being to return their beloved Legati's husband to her alive and well if they were not out with her in command. Husel was out on patrol with Laraunt, and both her parents had gone off to aid a grouping of smaller clans trying to re-establish their lives in yet another new home. For the past two months, the fragments had been concentrating more and more on attacking those trying to rebuild, or building something new. They obviously did not want the clans to be able to continue on - though the larger strongholds could still take on a few more refugees.

That turned her attention to the report from the village council. They were happy to allow more people to join them, she knew the people would never turn away those in need. But space was at a premium, and they could not afford to give up what few small gardens they had for growing. Multiple families were squeezed into houses too small for all of them, under which circumstances anyone would begin to crack. The only places they had left on which to build were the large public gardens, and everyone had been reluctant to lose those open spaces.

All Zeeda knew right then was that she needed to get away from the desk, out of the house and just go see for herself. A visit with Commander Harper would come first, and then, a walk through the village to see the council. Hura came bounding into the room as Zeeda stood up from the desk.

"What are you doing today, Aunti Zee?"

"I need to meet with Commander Harper, and then I need to meet with the village council."

"Ohhh ... can I come with you?"

"Not to meet with Commander Harper, I'm not sure how long that's going to take. But you can join me in visiting the village if your father says it's okay."

"Really?"

"Yes, I will send a messenger from the compound when I'm done with my business there."

"Yay! I'll go ask father, maybe he'd like to come too."

"That'll be fine little one."

"What are we doing to do in the village?"

"Well, the houses are all full - some of them very full, and we may need to make more room for more people to come live here. But we're running out of places to build, so we have to figure something out." Zeeda shrugged.

"This house can hold a lot of people, can't they stay here?"

"Yes, they could. But villagers are used to being in charge of their own homes. They may not like living with the clan commanders."

"But ... you'd never order them around."

"No, but I believe they would feel uncomfortable all the same. But we may have more clans joining us, and they would stay here and with Laraunt's family."

"That makes sense I guess."

"Now off with you, little one. I need to get down to the compound."

"Someday I'm going to be bigger you know," Hura said, sticking out her tongue.

"Even when you're a tall, beautiful, grown up lady, you will still be my little Hura." Zeeda smiled and ruffled her hair.

"You think I'll be beautiful?"

"Just like your mother."

Hura wrapped her arms around Zeeda's legs in a hug. Zeeda knew her goddaughter was always cheered by hearing she would grow up to be as beautiful as her mother. She only hoped it actually came to be.

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"Legati, we still need more men."

"I know Commander, but I don't know where or how. I will never force anyone into serving - that makes for unhappy soldiers, and unhappy villagers. What about opening it up to make women feel more comfortable about volunteering?"

"We've never turned them away, you know that Legati. We just don't get many of them asking to join the legions."

"They may be our only salvation. I know no villagers were trained as I was, but ..." Zeeda said with a shrug.

"No one was trained the way you were Legati, not even me." Harper smiled.

"I know that they all train themselves to at least know what a blade is, and everyone has personal shields. I'm not talking about mixed squads with men and women, but a few even of very determined women might make all the difference."

"You and Lady Zornah are our only women commanders - they'd still be taking orders from one of our men."

"And they'd be trained by our men as well." Zeeda added.

"It's a grand idea, and if anyone can pull it off, it would be you."

"I'll find out when I meet with the village council after I'm done here. We're not just running out of troops, we're running out of space. Homes are already filled past capacity, and we need to be prepared for more refugees."

"It's that bad?"

She shrugged. "It may not come to be, but I'd rather prepare for it all the same than be caught with people on our doorstep with no place for them to live."

"Some of the officers and I were talking - our quarters are large enough, and with a few modifications to the building, our families could come live with us on the compound."

"Would that help?"

"I don't know about in the village, probably - we were thinking a tad more selfishly."

"Draw up the plans and send them to me. I don't see it as a problem. What about legionaries with families?"

"Well, they would be small, but we could build a few more family oriented barracks type buildings in the space we have set aside for expansion anyway."

"See to it, and let me know when you all have everything decided. I'd rather have happy soldiers with their families here than grumpy people filling up an already full village."

"Thank you Legati."

"Anything else?"

"Not for today."

"Alright then, get to building Commander," Zeeda said with a wink.

"Yes, Legati."

Zeeda stood outside the gates of the compound, looking down at the village while she waited for Hura and her father to arrive. Their options were to build on the public gardens no one wanted to loose, or add another story or two to the low, one story homes sprawled out below. Since most of the homes were built close together, most family's had roof top living areas for entertaining and just enjoying being outside their homes without having to leave. They probably would not like the idea of loosing such areas just to fit more people in. Having new family living quarters in the compound would help, but there were so many people there already it would not solve anything if more arrived.

"Aunti Zee!"

Hura's call brought her thoughts back to something more pleasant, and she turned to greet them.

"I haven't been to the village before. This is going to be fun." Hura beamed up at her. "Do you go to the village often?"

"Not really, we don't like to interfere with them much. We're here to protect them, not rule over them."

"I don't understand," Hura replied, her forehead scrunched up.

"The villages started out as a gathering of people without clans, or those who's clan had been destroyed long ago. In the past, they were separate from the clan strongholds - the clan house and the troop compound. After another war like what we're fighting now, when some villages were completely destroyed, my people thought it wise to combine villages and strongholds to better protect everyone."

"So you just live together on the same land?"

"Yes. They are quite capable of taking care of themselves, and only come to us when they decide they need our help."

"Like building new buildings?"

"They don't need our permission to do what they like with their own lands, but they do like to keep us informed of their plans."

"I don't see many places left for new construction." King Saturn said.

"There isn't, and that's the problem. Because of how closely together the home are built, personal gardens are on the roofs, and I have the feeling most people aren't going to wish to lose those," Zeeda replied glumly. "Even the new family quarters Commander Harper is planning won't help as much as we'd like."

"Family quarters?" Hura asked.

"Those soldiers with families living here in the village. But with as much time as we've all spent away from home, having their families in the compound means they'll get to see them more often."

"It must be sad not being able to see their families."

"As I was reminded by Commander Harper this morning. I'd rather have families living in the compound than have unhappy troops."

"You're a very nice person Aunti Zee."

"I try." She smiled and ruffled the little girls hair.

They walked through the narrow village streets in silence for a while, Hura marveling at the sight, while Zeeda tried desperately to figure out a way to help the people they passed. She was not an engineer, nor an architect, so she really had no clue what any of them could do. The village council was waiting for them outside the small meeting hall.

"Legati Zeeda, thank you for coming to see us today. We had not expected such an honor."

"Councilman Laras, it is my honor to be here today. I hope you don't mind that I brought guests with me."

"Not at all Legati, all are welcome here." Laras smiled warmly.

"This is my goddaughter, Hura, and her father, Sastur."

"Forgive me, but you are not of the void ..."

"No, good sir, we are visitors from the Silver Millennium." Sastur smiled.

"We are doubly honored today then. How do you find our little village here?"

"It is a very impressive sight."

"And growing faster than we can keep control of it. But, please, come inside."

They followed the four council members into the meeting hall and assembled around a large table in the center of the room. It was painted as a map of the village. Zeeda studied it while the council members explained their plans, though none of them seemed very happy.

"There just isn't much space left to us Legati, and we do not relish the idea of turning people away."

"I know people do not wish to lose the public gardens, but what about this area here?" Zeeda pointed at a narrow stretch of land at the far side of the garden area.

"That's the children's game area - where they run their races and whatever else takes their fancy."

"We could fit quite a few multi-story dwellings there, and by shifting some of the shrubs in the center, they would still have their game area. With plenty of garden still left around the pool for gatherings."

"That would probably work."

"How many dwellings can be modified for another story or two? I don't wish to rid people of their roof gardens, but up is the only direction left to build."

"There are a few. And some families have talked of joining their houses, building up and having a larger roof garden for all to share."

"Commander Harper is working on family quarters within the compound for those with families, that should help some."

"That is wonderful news Legati, that will help us a great deal," Laras said with a relieved smile.

"That leaves the growing areas untouched, and hopefully we'll have some room left for a few extra people."

"What about stilts?" Hura asked, straining to see the table.

"You have an idea young miss?" Laras turned towards her with a small smile.

"I remember a picture in a book back home. On Mercury, they have homes built on stilts out over the water."

"Build a home above the fields?" one of the other council members asked.

"We'd have to speak with the growers, but they just might like the idea."

"Looks like we all have a busy time ahead of us," Zeeda said. "You'll let me know when you have an estimate of how many people we can take on?"

"Of course Legati. Are we expecting ..."

"Not yet, but if a request for refuge comes in, it would be nice to know how many we can comfortably take on."

"We'll send a report as soon as all the plans are finalized. Shouldn't take more than a couple days."

"Thank you. There is one other matter I would like to ask you about." Zeeda took a deep breath. "As you may know, our barracks are less than full. We may soon be in desperate need of troops, but neither I nor anyone in my family will ever force service upon anyone. I would like to make it known that any women that may be interested would be welcomed. They would be in their own squads, not mixed with the men, though we are a little short on female commanders at the moment."

"And their families?"

"I'm not sure how much room the commander is going to be able to make for families, but we'll try our best to get those that wish it within the compound."

"I cannot promise anything Legati, but we will spread the word around."

"I can only ask for that much. Thank you Councilman Laras."