Calling the Wolves

Given everything that has passed between the two of you it would be logical to keep an eye on Solas. When combined with the fact that the last time you had sought him out to offer aid he had been absent, suffice it to say that you have made it your business to know when he leaves your lands.

You do not yet know why he leaves, nor where he goes. Yet, you are not trying particularly hard to find out. There is a fine line between justifiable caution and provocative paranoia. It is ultimately none of your business what Solas is doing, you merely need to know when he is available to speak to you, and what he does in your lands.

Which is a rather long winded explanation of how you knew that Solas would be available to speak to you when you arrived. Thus you would appreciate it if Isewen would stop giving you a look like she thinks you are spying on her.

"Well, you wished to speak to me, and by what I am certain is a complete coincidence I have no pressing business to attend to." Solas remarks with far too much amusement. "How can I be of assistance?"

"When we parted, you said that you would return to assist against the Blight, does that remain true?" You ask.

"Unless you come bearing pressing news that it has decided to pass the elves by then I see no reason not to." The elf replies with a wry curl of his lip.

"Excellent. With that established, we have a number of details to discuss regarding how best to combat the darkness." You state seriously. "First of all, so that we are working on the same set of assumptions, will your warriors be joining us at Ostagar?"

"Hold on!" Isewen exclaims. "Solas, sir, you can't be serious about this. He's obviously been spying on us and you're not going to say anything about it? And we're just going to fight somewhere he says? How can you trust him?"

Most people would react in some way to such an outburst. Solas does not, at least not in a manner you can discern, which is concerning regardless of if he had one or not. He turns to his second in command and tilts his head slightly as if in thought.

"I see no reason not to trust him, at least somewhat." He states evenly. "I know… hmmm well let us say that I know enough of him to be doubtful that he would lie on this matter specifically."

"Should I be present for this conversation?" You ask wryly. "It seems as though you need to share information you do not wish me to be privy to."

Isewen glances at you cautiously, but Solas waves dismissively. "If I need you to do so, I shall inform you."

"Sir." Isewen says again, sounding stressed. "He's spying on us."

"I do not spy on anyone." You retort warningly. "I observe all who pass within my lands, but I do not make it my business to ferret out their secrets."

"Indeed, I imagine he spies on all who pass through." He ignores both your previous statements and your repeated protest that you do not 'spy'. "He would be a poor lord not to do so. Isewen, it is important to understand that I have many friends at many different levels. Some I would trust with my life."

"I find that hard to believe." You observe, glaring at the secretive elf.

Once more Solas chooses to ignore your interjection. "Others I trust only to aid me with incentives and if it does not inconvenience them at all. I count Nelyafinwë amongst those who would help only if my presence was not involved.

"I feel somewhat insulted." You note idly. "Should I be?"

Solas turns his head back to you with an apologetic expression. "I meant only that you would extend aid to me only so far as you would extend it to any."

"Untrue." You reply. "While you have been slow to return trust, and quick to spring to conclusions, you have rendered aid when it was needed. I would not count you as a close friend, but an ally certainly."

"Well, I stand corrected." Solas says with a fonder smile, then he turns back to Isewen. "Does that put your concerns to rest?"

The elven woman glances from Solas to you and back again, then she sighs. "Sorry, but it's my job to worry about this stuff."

"I doubt anyone takes it personally, it is certainly not the worst discussion we have had here." Solas laughs. "Now, you had a question for me?"

"I believe I have already asked my question." You remind the elf. "Will your warriors be joining us at Ostagar?"

"Did you?" Solas frowns. "Oh yes, I suppose my memory must be going in my old age."

"Is that something that happens?" You ask, mostly teasing but partly curious.

Solas tilts his head in thought. "You know, I am not sure. I will have to ask."

"Well, perhaps we shall return to the topic another time. Your plans?" You move the conversation along.

Isewen is giving the pair of you a look as though she thinks both of you are in urgent need of an urgent visit to Estë or Nienna. Which is rude, regardless of the fact that it is arguably true.

Solas thinks for a short time, then he replies, "I am not sure. Tell me, what are the plans for Ostagar?"

You shrug. "Unclear at this point. Much depends on the situation when we arrive. I hope to turn the fortress into a base from which to strike out at the enemy. I suspect the king will be angling for some kind of decisive field battle, what Teyrn Loghaine and the others want is harder to discern."

"Oh yes, I suppose that when dealing with unknown situations it would be foolish to make too many plans ahead of time." Solas says with a sigh. "If only we had some way to view distant places and watch the march of our foe."

You mirror his exasperation. "I agree, sadly the creation of a palantír is well beyond my skill. Not that it would be a guarantee of knowing our enemy's movements."

"Yes, it is rather inconsiderate of one's enemies not allowing a working strategy to continue working." Solas agrees with a wry smile. "Well, if we do not know the plans, I suppose I have only to ask who is going?"

"Most of Ferelden." You answer. "Myself and the Chasind. I plan to leave the Sabrae behind, just in case."

Solas nods. "That may be for the best."

The elf then turns to Isewen. "What do you think of the matter? Would you recommend fighting at Ostagar or not?"

The elf mercenary conceals her nerves and awkwardness remarkably well for one so young. She manages to stand reasonably steady and meet Solas' eye as she replies.

"I don't know. It depends." She says. "More soldiers are better, but I don't know how much we'd add to the army of Ferelden. At the same time it's not clear how well we'll stand up to real combat. Kind of depends on too many unknowns."

Solas sighs and lowers his head in thought.

Finally he raises his head to meet your gaze. "If you march to Ostagar, I shall accompany you."

"Boss, are you sure this is a good idea?" Isewen asks quietly. "I know you two have a, special connection, but do you trust his judgement that much?"

"It is not so much trust, though I suppose that is part of it." Solas muses. "Perhaps you would care to share your reasoning to soothe my companion's worries."

"Gladly." You reply. "It is a matter of when and how the greatest difference can be made. As a general rule, the forces of darkness grow strong from division, so concentrating forces is generally accepted to be a good idea. Further, if the Blight shall fall upon Ferelden it is unlikely that the land shall be inhabitable for many lives of men afterwards. My expertise may make the difference, so I must go."

"But why should WE go." Isewen stresses. "I'm not trying to run from a fight but it sounds like you just want more bodies to throw at the problem."

"That is perhaps a harsher view of the matter than is truly warranted." You reply. "It is not that I want more endlessly, nor do I bring those who I care less for to deflect losses from myself. Yet anything may give us the advantage, and I cannot discern. One more mage, one more sword, perhaps something I cannot yet conceive. As I cannot know where that unlooked for edge may come from, my only recourse is to call everyone I can."

For a moment there is silence, which is suddenly broken by a soft laugh from Solas. "I am continually surprised by your eloquence. I have heard many requests for aid in my time, but few so well put."

You shrug. "Language is much beloved by all the Eldar. We revel in it, and seek ever to turn it to new uses. 'If there is need for speech, let it be beautiful'."

Solas smiles. "Ah, the more I hear of your people the more I wish to meet them. Still, that is another conversation for another time. Have you more to say?"

"There are a few matters. I will begin with the more palatable of them." You respond.

"Always an ominous statement." Solas muses with no small amusement.

"I have spoken to Isewen of your warriors, and noted their arms and armour." You continue as though he had not spoken. "It is thus known to me that your forces are largely light infantry, wielding an odd mismatch of weapons, including at least some archers. I even know that your fighting strength is some ninety warriors"

"Isewen mentioned that you visited." Solas notes carefully. "I had assumed you learned something along those lines."

You nod and come to your point. "However, what is not know to me are the exact proportions and the skill of those who follow you. Further, I would not presume to assume that I have seen all there is to see of your supplies, but I must ask if you have sufficient arms and armour for them all?"

Solas smiles a wry smile. "Well, thanks in part to your efforts, we should have arms and armour sufficient for our purposes. It is not, perhaps, of a quality that either of us would hope for, but it is certainly better than nothing."

He gestures to Isewen, who glares in response. A silent conversation which, if you were to guess, goes something like I don't trust him from Iswen, followed by Solas' Tell him anyway.

"Maybe a third of us are archers, or can shoot a bow in a pinch." Isewen says through gritted teeth. "How many will be deployed that way can be determined later."

Thirty archers is more than you have, but it still seems strangely few to you. Perhaps you have spent too much time with the Laiquendi and the Nandëo. Given that Ostagar is a fort of some degree, it is likely they will be used as such, so there is no need to pursue this line of questioning further.

"As for quality." Isewen wrinkles her nose. "It varies. Some of us are veteran mercenaries, some are untrained volunteers, most have some training or experience but rarely both."

"I imagine that makes fighting as a unit difficult." You offer in solidarity.

Isewen frowns at you. "I envy your experiences if you have had units with uniform training and experience."

You cough, recalling far too late that even compared to the later days of the First Age, the armies that you learned command with were very unusual. Though perhaps not to the degree of Ferelden, if Isewen's implications are accurate.

"Moving along." You state, ignoring Solas' clear amusement. "What of you Solas? I know you are a mage, and likely a powerful one, but what can you do exactly? How do you rate yourself in the coming battle?"

The smile slips of Solas' face. "Ah yes, that is a much less palatable question."

"I am not attempting to pry." You state gently. "I do not wish to pry into secrets you hold close, yet if we are to work together I must know what I can call upon you for. If one side of the battlefield goes up in flames I must know if you need help or not."

"Yes, that is quite understandable." Solas says, emotions quickly vanishing behind a pleasant mask. "Well, that I am a mage is no surprise, and I suppose I do not need to warn you that I am somewhat different from a Circle mage to you, do I."

You nod. "While I have now met several of them, I have yet to see them fight."

"Then I suppose the only skill of note I should bring up is my contact with spirits." Solas says with a slight smile that does not reach his eyes. "I have long walked within the Fade and have many friends therein. As a repository of memory and knowledge, I have rather a large store of unusual spells and approaches."

You raise an eyebrow. "Let us hope you do not need to wield those, lest Merrill spend hours after the battle demanding answers how you achieved such."

Solas coughs and looks startled. "Yes, I had not considered that angle."

You wait for a long moment, then prompt. "On the matter of power, how would you rate yourself?"

The second pause is filled with unspoken significance that you lack the background to interpret.

"Among my peers, I would not be considered unusual." Solas says at last.

You give the elf a stare, not a glare but with clear displeasure. "If you did not wish to answer the question, you could have simply said so."

Supplying the March

Rather uniquely among the various preparations for the coming Blight, planning your supplies does not begin with talking to anyone. It begins with you alone in your office performing sums.

Wagons move roughly as fast as a man walks. That is naturally not an exact number but it is a rough estimate. That has two implications, bringing the wagons will not notably slow your march, and that it will take roughly the same amount of time for them to reach Ostagar. That gives you a roughly eight day turnaround on deliveries, not accounting for loading and unloading. Better consider it nine.

With that established, you need to know how much each wagon can carry. This is the bulk of your morning, as most materials of war come in different sizes that take up different amounts of space. Eventually you manage to work it all out, partly thanks to those handy chests the people of this land make. Those are of a regular size, and you can fit around twenty five into a cart.

The amount of food each chest fits is surprising, though disappointingly spare weapons and armour take substantially more space. You wonder if there is some art to these vessels you do not understand, for the rules by which they hold things confounds you. Still, it is enough to begin to make plans.

You will need to bring at least two carts full of food for your warriors. Just yours, not counting the Chasind and Solas' men. Though they will likely have their own supplies, it is worth keeping in mind. Then another two with shoes and clothes. Perhaps one more with weapons and materials for repairs.

That said, bringing blacksmiths would perhaps spare you the need for that degree of maintenance. No, that should not change the calculations; they would increase food requirements by around one cart's worth.

It might still be worth it in the end if only to spare yourself the deliveries of repair materials. Much in the manner that it is significantly cheaper to pay the wage of a blacksmith than to commission work from one. Though you can probably leave the housekeepers behind. Soldiers should look after their own camps.

Fortunately you are spared one of the more annoying tasks of supplying an army. Ferelden will have supply dumps that you can use, and given you march with them at the behest of Teyrn Loghaine, you do not need to organise storage.

That leaves you with one important question before you depart to speak to Wesley about farming numbers and potential supply routes. Specifically, how many carts shall you leave behind and how many shall you take with you?

As things stand you think you will need, at minimum, five carts. That assumes you take no one with you other than your warriors and you have no desire to bring additional food with you beyond the minimum. That then leaves nine behind to make deliveries. Which lets you potentially bring in more supplies after the march.

The second option, and likely to be the necessary one if you want to bring more people with you is to take exactly half your carts. Then you can plan who comes along based on how much the carts can carry, knowing the deliveries will flow from there.

Of course, you will need to pack extra food to tide you over the inevitable delays while the carts catch up.

The final option is to bring as many carts as you can. If you pick the right combination of people you might actually only need a small number back home to make deliveries. That depends a lot on what you plan to do as far as bringing support staff along.

Then again, you could also just purchase more carts. It is not as though you have a deficit of funds, especially with the new farms finally coming online.

There is a minor internal debate over the matter. Of the available options, the question is do you want an excess of initial storage or do you want to have the confirmed safety of long term deliveries. The debate concludes in favour of having the higher than initial storage, as in the end it is just additional cost. Plus, who knows what you might need to bring.

If you need more carts to make that work, then you will simply have to buy more carts. What is the point of running a minor trading franchise if you cannot spend money whenever you want.

Vaguely you are aware that, were he here, Moryo would have an extensive lecture on a wide variety of words you cannot prove he made up. He is, was, as bad as you are when it comes to people not acting optimally in his trade.

With a shake of your head you banish such thoughts. You rise and head out to speak to the people who will be organising the affairs of the supply chain when you are absent.

Delora, Faith, Martin and Saris gather in a room looking at you expectantly.

"Thank you all for coming, I am currently in the midst of organising the supply chain for our warriors, and thought it was worth getting your input on how best to organise that." You explain to them.

Detailing everything discussed in that meeting could fill whole tomes, and would be incredibly boring. Organising when to leave and where to go, discussing security concerns, as well as organising drivers, all of it takes time and endless discussion. Not helped by the conflicting desires of everyone present.

Saris is always angling to improve his own position, Faith is trying to assert herself, Martin worries about interrupting the trade, and Delora just doesn't want to have to drive the carts. None of them are evil desires, most are reasonably understandable, but it does unnecessarily inflate the time it takes to do things.

You could, theoretically, overrule them. None would dare challenge you on it. However, you allow them to present their perspectives and make their arguments. It is often much better in the long run to deal with disagreement before acting. It saves time in the end.

Even if the meeting feels interminable, it was always inevitable that it would end.

"Are we all in agreement then?" You ask.

There are nods around the table, at varying levels of enthusiasm admittedly, but agreement nonetheless.

"Then we will make use of our additional labourers as wagoneers. I would also like to thank Faith for her idea of bringing our herds along on the march. I will be sure to consider it going forward." There is a moment when a couple of people look as though they wish to do or say something but decide not to. "Are there any further matters we wish to discuss before everyone returns to their regular duties?"

"I do." Delora interjects, you note Martin and Faith carefully concealing their disappointment. "So, if you're going to be at Ostagar, how are we going to do things like selling our products and buying new ones. It's like four days."

"It might be faster for a messenger on horse, especially if they take the direct route through the forest." Suggests Faith.

She is not wrong, but it is likely to end up taking just as long all considered. It might be wiser to delegate responsibility to Martin and Delora. THough that is not without its own disadvantages, as they will not know what you want. Perhaps if they visit regularly.

Then again, perhaps you might be able to leverage your connection with Maeglin, and his trade network to maybe get orders out. It is something worth considering at least.

Still, you must consult if only to prevent complaints later, so you turn to Saris for his predictable pitch that he be placed in charge of the matter. While he speaks, you turn your thoughts to your decision.

Although Saris' words are very predictable, there is a point hidden deep within. By this point in your deliberations (he speaks too much, likely due to fear of being rejected if he should get to the point) you have largely decided to not attempt to steer trade and supplies from a distance.

However, as he drones on about clear chains of command, he does raise an interesting point. While you are obviously in command here, much of that is due to the simple fact of your nature and training. Most people agreed to come work for you. If you are delegating that authority, it may become more complex.

Your eyes fall upon Faith who is looking at you. Turning your ahead away, you allow the natural keenness of your eyes to observe her without seeming to. No, she is not looking at you, she is watching you. If you had to guess, she is trying to prepare herself by observing how you do your duty.

Interesting.

That makes your mind up. If she is undertaking this role with such enthusiasm, then you will not worry about the potential load you place upon her. As you have the final word upon trade now, she shall have it in your absence. Should you wish to intervene you can send her a note directly.

It may even prove beneficial, rather than risking Delora or Martin not receiving communication due to being absent. Of course, you still will need to get a message to her in a timely fashion, but that was always going to be a struggle.

Still, you have to allow Saris to finish his pitch, lest he grow resentful. Even if you do think he speaks far too often, for too long and with far too little substance. You even go so far as allowing a silence after he has finished speaking to give the illusion that you are considering his arguments.

Which you did, but that was well before he finished speaking.

"I have made my decision." You inform the group before you. "I will be delegating authority on this matter to Martin and Delora, as we have been behaving until now. The two of you have proven worthy guardians of coin, and shrewd negotiators. I will not attempt to do your job from miles away."

The expressions on everyone's faces suggest they both expected this and have no objections.

"However." You continue. "Though, responsibility will largely fall upon your shoulders, much as I have taken the role of deciding what is needed and how much we should sell and when, the steward of Endataurëo shall maintain that role in my absence."

"Isn't that asking a bit much?" Saris asks pointedly. "Not to question my colleague, but to know the market and the prices is too much to ask of someone so, new."

Faith's expression screams that she agrees with him and is panicking internally.

"You misunderstand." You clarify. "Her role is essentially to judge whether or not Endataurëo needs to build a stockpile and inform the merchants of that, as well as asking for anything that needs to be bought. This was always a part of the duties, and I am merely clarifying her authority to do so."

That calms down Faith and Saris relaxes slightly, glad that her authority is not being expanded.

"If I have need of something, I will send a message." You finish. "It will be the responsibility of all three of you to ascertain how best to acquire it and how to get it to me. I cannot dictate that effectively from a distance."

"Ah." Faith begins, then quietens when you turn your attention to her.

"Did you have a question?" You ask.

"Uh, well, yes." The young girl takes several deep breaths and says, "Can you note how urgent it is? So we can tell how best to get it to you."

The smile that spreads across your face is as proud as it is involuntary. "Of course I shall. An excellent suggestion."