With any luck, the summer would retain its pleasant warmth and Karan wouldn't have to suffer hot and humid days. She let the hide curtain covering her window drop and returned to her rough wooden stool. The crude desk before her bore a redrawn map and newly marked positions. Expected raider movement, and a few new wildling packs.
The wildlings had shown virtually no interest in coming anywhere close to Stalwart. Perhaps they knew by now that they were likely to be slaughtered and stuck in the fledgling town's larder. Or hung in strips from the criss-crossing lines running between the "Butcher's Three" as the townsfolk had come to call it. Jerky was convenient and easy enough to produce now that merchants had recognized the town not only existed but was worth trading with.
The walls of Crag had proven useful. Carving chunks of stone out of them to trade away as building material was more lucrative than anyone had expected. Karan frowned as the vague whispers of unusual sounds coming from Crag returned to the forefront of her thoughts. Raiders that had taken up residence there? Wildlings? It was hard to say - none of Stone's expeditions produced anything of note, and Stone wasn't exactly lax in her searches.
She scratched her temple and adjusted the crown on her head as it threatened to tip forward. There was always so much to do and never enough time to do it. Karan took a sip of water from a wooden cup on her desk and then looked around her office. The mixture of light and dark wooden fixtures produced a pleasant contrast. A mamoswine pelt dominated the area before her desk, and bore several stools of different sizes and shapes to accommodate different types of pokemon.
She had some shelves, a few crude cabinets to store maps and various other supplies, and an extra table in case they had to lay extra maps out. There was a proper door now too. Most importantly, however, she had silence. The old tent she used to work out of was noisy, and while there was a charm in being connected to the outside in such a direct manner, she had spent a significant chunk of her previous life enjoying the comfort of a quiet, personal room.
Karan scanned the map once more and nodded to herself. Repositioning a few sentries would be more than enough to keep raiders from doing much damage. She wagered they'd do basically no damage if she assigned both Thea and Valor to the post, but they were relied on far too much. All of the former defense forces were in high demand, really, especially now that every single citizen was expected to take full part in the defense of Stalwart.
But she couldn't just rely on their expertise - it had to pass itself down somehow. A tiny knock sprang to life at her door. "Enter," she said in her usual cool tone. The door swung open slowly and revealed the tiny frame of a sneasel. Karan rolled her eyes and gestured for her to enter. "Candrila, I'm busy."
Her daughter hustled over to her mother's desk and hopped up into her lap and then onto the desk itself. "I'm bored," she whined.
"How rare," mumbled Karan, pulling the map away from her daughter and replacing the markers she'd knocked aside. "No one to play with?"
"Everyone else is busy. Auntie Stone is out on some expe… ex… uh, the thingy she does. Thea and Valor are both busy with some kind of super important mission, I guess. Sava would just yell at me. And 'Sam took Syas out to go and learn to do stuff or something…" said Candrila, pouting. She kicked her little legs back and forth and turned her attention to the map. "Whatcha doin'?"
She'd rather have me yell at her than Sava. Perhaps I'm losing my edge. Karan struggled to suppress a smirk, and said in a stern voice, "Working."
"Yeah but-"
"Candrila," said Karan, her tone curt.
The sneasel recoiled at the look in her mother's eyes and sighed. "Okayyyy, fine. Can I at least stay here, Mom?"
"Stay quiet and you can." She moved a marker on the map and then looked over at Candrila, her brow furrowed, as a thought struck her. "What did Balsam take Syas out to go do?"
"I dunno. Learn stuff? Train or something, I think. He didn't get a chance to tell me." Her daughter leaned closer to the map and reached out with one of her unnaturally long claws to gently tap one of the wooden markers Karan used to note where sentries stood.
"Train?" repeated Karan.
"Yah!" The sneasel successfully tipped the sentry marker over and immediately threw her mother a sheepish grin and tiny, "Sorry." Karan scooped her tiny daughter up into her arms and made for the door. "Mom! I said I'm sorry, don't toss me out, I'll get laughed at again!"
"Not tossing you out," said Karan. "It's time you learned to really use your claws." She shut the door to her office behind her and looked up at the midmorning sun and cloudless sky. Cinderella wriggled in her grip enough to lean her face against her mother's.
"Training?" asked Candrila.
"Yes. Been four years. Neglected teaching you. My fault." Karan offered Candrila a soft smile. "You'll do fine. You're my daughter."
The sneasel stared back at Karan with Outrider's scarlet eyes. "Is training fun?"
"No promises." She smiled widely at her daughter, then pressed her nose against the small jewel on her forehead.