“I will see you tomorrow,” Vraekae promised as she slipped her gloves back on. “Until then.”
Dys nodded as she saw the magistrate out the door. Her discussions with the elf hadn’t exactly accomplished much other than provide Jadis with a lot of information that she should have already known, but at least she now had a better view of the ever-changing political landscape. Jadis still wasn’t certain how she was going to navigate around all the thorns and pitfalls, but she’d figure something out. She’d plan and prepare as much as she could, but once the fights started, verbal or otherwise, she’d do what she always did: Improvise.
“Gods, what a mess,” Jay grumbled as she rubbed at her eyes with her right hand. “I think I’d get along with Vraekae better if she wasn’t always dropping bad news on my heads.”
“Speaking of,” Kerr said in a half-whisper, “what’s the word? You going to fill me and the others in?”
Jay smiled before leaning down and kissing Kerr. When she pulled back, she patted her therion lover on the shoulder.
“I will, just not now. We’re going to have to have a group discussion about all this, but it’s a conversation for the inner circle, if you get me.”
“Yeah, sure,” Kerr shrugged. “I can wait. Just don’t make me wait too long or I’m going to have to fuck the answers out of you, and neither of us want that, do we?”
“Definitely not,” Jay chuckled. “That kind of torture would just be cruel.”
Jadis had every intention of holding a discussion with all of her lovers about what Vraekae had told her, just not while they were still out in town. The magistrate’s visit had already derailed Jadis’ plans for the day long enough and in her opinion, it was time to get back on track. The warnings of war and destruction were only worst-case scenarios, after all, and there wasn’t even any concrete evidence that the Hero would be in the city soon anyway. All Vraekae had were suppositions and rumors. Jadis wasn’t going to waste her time wringing her hands over what-may-be when she had real problems to deal with in the moment.
While her Dys self had been talking with Vraekae, Aila, and Eir, her other selves had been busy touring the new premises and discussing what they wanted to do right away, versus what they could put off until later.
One thing they had decided was that furnishing the top floor as their group bedroom was a must. As nice as Lyssandria’s High Temple was, Jadis didn’t want to live there. As soon as the show trial with the emperor was over, she wanted to move out to her own home, not stay cooped up under the watchful eye of the priests. That meant they were going to need to remodel the third floor of the workshop to become something livable.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like it would be too hard a task to accomplish. The third floor was wide open and could be partitioned in any way she and her lovers wanted. The biggest difficulty would come from the fact that there wasn’t any kind of plumbing on the third floor. There was on the second floor, though, so it wouldn’t be too hard to get something set up on the floor above, but it would require hiring a professional to do the work. Since they’d be paying a good amount to install indoor plumbing, an expensive luxury in most cities but far more common in the capital, Jadis planned on making sure that the facilities could handle someone of her dimensions. She didn’t want to have to hoof it to a bathhouse every time she wanted to take a bath without squeezing into a tub that was three feet too small for her.
Showers weren’t really a thing on Oros from what Jadis had experienced, but the bathhouses did have those waterfalls to wash with. She wondered if she explained to the craftsman who would be doing the work what a showerhead was if he could set something up. It was worth a try, she supposed, though she wasn’t wholly sure how well it would work out.
Another thing they had decided on was how many rooms to have set up on the second floor. They determined that setting up half the floor with eight decent-sized rooms while the rest of the floor was furnished as a barracks-style bunkbed setup would be the best option considering how many employees they were likely to hire, at least to start. Nevan, Orla, and Sorcha had all really helped provide some insight on how smaller guilds operated in regard to housing, which helped guide Jadis’ final choice.
Sorcha had been a member of the Roiling Reavers, which had been a relatively small mercenary company though with far more members than Fortune’s Favored currently had. Jadis had been surprised to learn that the crooked company had had a base that they operated out of in the coastal city Glitnir. The building they’d used as a headquarters had provided free accommodations to all members, though that amounted to basically just a bunk and free meals that were on the cheap side of quality. That setup was fairly common for most mercenary companies, Nevan and Orla had both confirmed, though the bigger and more successful companies tended to offer better options for higher-CLR members as incentive to stay. One of the common options given in better companies were private rooms that could be rented at a cost that was usually deducted from the merc’s pay. Some places would give those private rooms away for free if the mercenary was a high enough CLR, but that was an option Jadis could worry about later. Having eight nice rooms available that people could choose to rent if they wanted to was more than enough to meet their near-future needs.
Nevan and Orla always rented a room from a family they were distantly related to during their stays in Eldingholt. That was apparently a fairly common practice for independent mercenaries like them since most were on the road too often to want to spend the money on owning property but didn’t have a company headquarters to fall back on. Depending on how Jadis had the new rooms furnished, they might just choose to rent one of the rooms instead, though their basic salaries afforded them better options than just the HQ bedrooms. Other than them, it was likely that support staff like Gunnar and Hans would rent rooms, unless they already had better accommodations elsewhere.
There would also be those who didn’t care too much about where they slept. Jadis planned on hiring actual mercenaries, not just support staff, and the two gnomes had assured her that those were likely the sort who would be happy to save their earnings and would take the free bunks without complaint. Most mercs were used to roughing it out in the field. Sleeping in a barracks was no great hardship.
Aside from the living accommodations, the biggest priority was getting a workshop for Sabina to work out of up and running. Jadis’ plans relied heavily on the smith’s ability to come through on the ideas that they had discussed that were inspired by Earth technology. If Sabina couldn’t work on her ideas or craft her creations, then there was no point to hiring anyone else at all.
While Jadis had told Sabina about a lot of different technologies, most of those stories were examples of the end effect, not the specifics of how the technology worked. While she had always done well in school, Jadis was no expert in any of the fields that would have allowed Sabina to replicate the more advanced mechanical and electronic machinery of modern Earth. Trying to explain what a computer or the internet was to Sabina was like talking in a different language and was so alien a concept that the half-elf had basically dismissed the stories as pure fantasy. A small rectangle that weighs only a few pounds yet somehow holds the combined knowledge of every civilization known to mankind was just too outlandish a concept to entertain. Sabina didn’t have a clue where to even begin with an idea like that and had no hope of replicating it.
There were other ideas, though, that had sparked inspiration in her excitable lover. Some of the notions that had taken root in Sabina’s mind had combined together with her knowledge of magic and enchantments, prompting an avalanche of possibilities that would probably keep the smith busy for decades if she were left to her own devices. However, Jadis made sure to point Sabina’s immense intellect and burning passion for invention towards the ideas that sounded most beneficial to Fortune’s Favored. Jadis didn’t mind admitting that some of the imaginative inventions that Sabina had told her about in her rambling way had kind of gone over her head. Sabina’s knowledge of enchantments and what was possible with magical materials like eleria far exceeded Jadis’ understanding, but the end results that Sabina proposed sounded like they were mostly in line with her own end goals.
Sabina had a good supply of materials stocked up already to begin the more magical side of her experiments, but what she lacked was a proper workshop as well as a stockpile of more mundane materials. Since a lot of what she needed wouldn’t require any kind of special order and they were already in a district that contained all kinds of woodworkers and smiths, Jadis decided she would do some shopping while they were already out. Sabina would come with her, of course, but she also wanted Sorcha to join them as well. The goblin woman had a way of interpreting and summarizing Sabina’s rambling sentences in a way that other people could understand.
“Okay, does everyone have their assignments?” Jay called out to the gathering. “And are there any questions?”
“All good here,” Kerr replied first as she pulled her heavy coat back on. “We’ll be back quick enough.”
“I want to stop by a locksmith on our way,” Aila corrected Kerr as she fished a blue scarf out of her pocket. “I don’t trust the old locks on this building. Someone could have gotten a copy of the key from the previous owner. If we’re going to have supplies in here, we should make sure they are secure.”
“Fair enough,” Jay agreed. “It’s okay if you can’t get anyone out right away, though. We can always keep stuff locked up in the wagon if we need to.”
Aila and Kerr were going to fetch the wagon and relocate it to the storage yard of the new headquarters. Aila probably could have handled the task on her own, but Jadis didn’t want her to get hassled by guards or anyone else since driving the oversized wagon through the city streets wasn’t going to be the easiest task. Better to have someone with her to back her up just in case.
“I’ll place what orders I can,” Eir spoke up while putting one of her dainty hands on Thea’s arm. “If I can’t find the plumber who worked on my parents’ mansion two summers ago, I’ll ask around and find someone else who can do the job.”
Eir’s main objective was to locate the plumber so they could start those renovations first, but she’d also be placing orders on other materials that would take time to custom craft, such as bedding and furniture that suited Jadis’ size. Thea was going with her to serve as her guard. Jadis didn’t think it likely that any harm would come to Eir, but out of all her lovers, Eir was the least capable of protecting herself. Having someone nearby who could defend her just in case was a huge load off of Jadis’ mind.
“We’ll find the stuff we need to get a proper kitchen going,” Bridget added. “Hans should know where to go, but I can check with a few mercenary companies I know have bases here in the city for ideas on where they get their supplies if all else fails.”
Hans nodded along to Bridget’s words, confirming that he had everything under control when it came to the kitchen renovation. The old workshop didn’t have a kitchen, but the smaller workshop in the back half of the first floor would serve the purpose well once they got it fixed up and supplied right. Most rooms already had a fireplace in them anyway, so turning the one in that workshop into an oven was more than possible.
“I swear on my honor as a gnome that I will find you suitable candidates for your burgeoning mercenary empire,” Nevan told Jay as he placed a hand over his heart. “Not one blackguard or laggard will darken your doorstep. Fortune will only favor the very best!”
“Thank you, Nevan,” Jay grinned at the serious expression on the small man’s face. “But you don’t need to overdo it. We’ll have some proper interviews later. I just want to start the process to see who might be interested and who we might be interested in.”
“Of course,” Orla smiled sweetly as she took her husband’s hand. “I assure you, we won’t go too far in our search for suitable recruits. But my husband is correct, dearest Jay. Only the best for Fortune’s Favored.”
Jadis couldn’t argue with the couple’s intent. She only wanted the best for her mercenary company, too, so she wouldn’t argue with them if they were telling her that they were taking their task seriously. Nevan and Orla had far more connections with independent mercenaries than Noll did, mostly because they weren’t as high-level as he was and therefore mingled with a broader demographic. Jadis had only known the two of them for a short while, but she trusted them enough to start the recruitment process. She’d still rely on Aila and the others to truly vet any candidates, but she doubted that Nevan or Orla would send any unsuitable people to be interviewed.
“That leaves me,” Tegwyn smirked as he leaned against the wall near the door. “I can’t say that I mind staying behind to tend the flock, but it does feel like a far less exciting task compared to everyone else’s duties.”
“Thank you for agreeing to watch over Alex,” Jay turned to face the Dryad. “It may not be a glamorous duty, but then again, neither is talking to plumbers or buying furniture.”
“Besides, you and Alex won’t be alone,” Syd added as she retrieved the three coats she and her other selves had taken off once the workshop had started warming up. “Gunnar will be here too. I’m sure you three can find some things to do.”
As much as Jadis would have preferred to have Alex join her, Sabina, and Sorcha on the shopping trip, having the Demon along would probably cause a few too many problems. Even if Alex didn’t scare the diarrhea noodles out of the neighbors, she’d draw far more attention than Jadis wanted to deal with at the moment. For the sake of expediency, Alex would remain in the workshop until Jadis got back, with Tegwyn and Gunnar to act as “guards” since legally speaking, a “captured” demon wasn’t supposed to be left alone and unsupervised. Technically, if they were truly following the law, she’d need to be in a cage, too, but Jadis would be dead before she let anyone put her tentacled lover in a cage of any kind ever again. Putting a watch on her, though, would at least show that she was following the letter of the law, if not the spirit.
“I will… Clean the rooms…” Alex announced her intentions with complete assurance. “Tegwyn and Gunnar… Will help…”
“Oh will we now?” Tegwyn laughed at the Demon’s confidence. “I suppose if a lady is asking two strapping lads for help with the wash, we can’t exactly refuse, can we?”
“No, we cannot,” Gunnar agreed as he turned to look at Alex, addressing the Demon for the first time.
As the elf faced Alex, Jadis was suddenly struck with the reminder that Alex’s new form was something that Gunnar might take exception to for a very unique reason. The last time Gunnar had seen the face Alex wore, it had belonged to Eike, the blood bitch who had chopped off his arm with a scythe and almost killed him. Sure, Alex had killed Eike and taken her corpse as her own to make a new body, one that looked drastically different from what it once was, but still. Aside from the ink-black skin, tentacle hair, three neon-blue eyes, and the fact that Alex smiled like a completely different kind of crazy person than the blood bitch used to, it was still Eike’s face that Gunnar was looking at.
The two regarded each other for a tense moment. Gunnar stood with his arms crossed across his chest, his prosthetic plain to see. Alex simply stood there, her feet a foot off the ground as her tentacles kept her suspended in the air. Finally, the elf spoke.
“You could have picked a better face,” he said mildly.
“No… I couldn’t…” Alex replied.
“Hmph. Well, I suppose your options were limited at the time. Thank you for saving me.”
“You are welcome…” The Demon said with a grin that was intended to be friendly, though that expression didn’t always come across well thanks to Alex’s threatening looks.
“Where do you want to clean first?” Gunnar asked, already getting down to business.
“Up there…” Alex pointed up towards the corners of the ceiling where cobwebs were visible.
“We have the ladders for it,” he nodded as he moved towards the ladders that were propped against one wall with a purpose. “May as well get started now.”
Jadis grinned with relief to see Gunnar getting along with Alex without obvious issues. She felt confident just from that little exchange that they would be fine on their own, especially with Tegwyn around.
With everyone’s tasks sorted, Jay clapped her hands together once.
“Alright everyone, let’s get to it! We’ve got a mercenary company to build!”
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