After another eight defeats, Len conceded that she wasn’t gonna do any better that night. They’d been at it for hours and she wanted to tell herself that she was getting bored, but really was just getting tired of getting her ass handed to her by a child. Her ego would recover, but some time away from the game board was definitely called for.

Keseryn, for her part, was insufferably smug for the rest of the night, but Len let her have it. It wasn’t really Len’s strong suit to help a child grieve over her parents, but she figured that she had to be doing all right if she was getting the occasional night like this out of her. Len had gotten so used to the whirlwind experience that her life had become that sometimes it took a moment for her to register just how much had happened in the child’s life these past couple of weeks, and it was just daunting to consider.

Their games done, the two retired to their respective corners of the tent. Keseryn to read, and Len to consider her actions for the next day. She’d tried to get in touch with Astrid again, but the Demon Lord had either been unable or had chosen not to respond, leaving her a little at a loss for what to expect from the coming day. Still, it was to be assumed that they’d be arriving at some point in the waking hours, hopefully earlier, and they’d have to have some sort of orientation. Len grimaced slightly at the thought but knew it was part of her job. She put the discomfort out of her mind because wasting time on self-doubt had a tendency to draw Pitch out of the shadows, which wasn’t something she was in the mood for (truth be told, she wasn’t ever really in the mood to deal with the creature, but some times were better than others).

The barracks had room for the first dozen, so other than a little bit of cleaning, there hadn’t been much that needed to be done with them, but Len knew that she was going to have a hell of a time getting set up for the next round. They didn’t have much of a textile industry at their disposal just yet, which meant that bedding was limited, and that wouldn’t sit well with unruly rejects of the Army that were already stressed near their breaking point. It’d lead to a haves and have-nots situation that really wouldn’t help matters. Len hoped that they’d be able to get some trade going on with the nearby humans again to supply some of that, but it wasn’t a sure thing, which made her think that she’d need some contingencies.

The biggest issue, though, was actually carving out of new quarters in the mine. Thanks to Kila’s efforts, they had the tools to keep a proper workforce stocked, but it was still a lot of space to carve out and they wouldn’t be able to wait on it. New construction would be the biggest task across the board because they were still lacking in so many facilities. In particular, Len wanted a new recreational building and to improve their latrine situation. It wasn’t the worst of setups, but a single outhouse wasn’t the sort of thing that could handle 50-odd Orcs, and she shuddered to think what sort of stench could develop if they were careless with handling that. Fortunately, that particular task would be useful as a discipline tool as well.

Len’s mind continued to run in circles as the night dragged on, and she ultimately just had to give in to slumber without settling on any real answers for her problems. As was so often the case with things, she’d need to think on her feet to deal with the issues as they came up. It wasn’t the most comforting of thoughts to have as one drifted off to sleep, but at least she’d been getting plenty of practice at it lately.

* * * * *

She woke a little before dawn, with a grumbling in her stomach that reminded her that she hadn’t had much to eat since getting back. Cookie tended to be up earliest of all of them, so she shambled over to the mess hall to see what he’d come up with. As it happened, he’d already gotten a pot of mealy porridge going and had a cup of caffeine waiting for her eager lips.

“Morning, boss,” he said cheerily.

“How on earth can you be this chipper this early in the morning,” she grumbled at him, not asking so much as accusing.

“I’ve always liked the mornings,” he said with a shrug. “It’s nice and quiet, with no one coming in to cause trouble. Used to have a lot more of the mornings to myself before you came along, though. Getting everyone out of bed before midday used to be a struggle.”

“So sorry to have disrupted your peace and quiet,” she said acidly before downing the mug.

Her barbs bounced harmlessly off of him, which was as well since she didn’t really mean for them to do so. He seemed perfectly content with the current situation.

“So, first batch of new recruits gets here today. Should make things exciting.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure we’ve had a full complement here in my entire stay at the Hovel. Not sure what to expect from it.”

“Expect to be a lot busier. You’re about to be cooking for twice as many people. Hopefully they’ll have someone who can help you out.”

“I don’t really want any help, boss. This is my place and I like it the way it is.”

“I get that, man, I do. Thing is: we’re about to have THREE dozen new recruits here, not just the one. I’ve no doubt that your skills would be able to keep up with all of that for a while, but it’s gonna get away from you quick. Better to get used to the idea of having your own crew now, because you’re gonna need one. Come to think of it, Keseryn’s been a bit too focused on learning from Marble, I think it might be good for her to spend a bit of time in the kitchen. Why don’t you take her today?”

“Why do I get the feeling that that’s not a question?”

“Because it’s not,” she said sweetly.

“If you say so, boss,” he said, a tad sullenly.

“I do. Thanks for breakfast, I’m gonna go do the rounds.”

He offered her a mock salute and returned to work on his food prep.

Her rounds weren’t particularly interesting, showing no changes since the last time she’d done them. No catastrophes, no impressive displays of productivity, just a very resounding normalcy in events. It was reassuring, and pretty much exactly what she needed to get the day started. The caffeine had started doing its job and she was starting to feel up to the challenge of the day.

Naturally, that meant it was time for the day to throw a curve ball at her. Right as she was getting ready to head back into her tent and rouse Keseryn for the day, a dozen Orcs materialized right in front of her, all looking various forms of confused and/or frustrated.

“Are you kidding me, Astrid?” Len snapped at the Demon Lord who almost certainly couldn’t hear her (Len wouldn’t completely put it past the woman). “All right then, good morning, guys.”

The assembled group blinked in unison at her. Whatever they’d been expecting, it hadn’t been her.

“So, ah, you’ll have to forgive me, but I was kind of hoping for a little more notice of your impending arrival than you showing up before I’d finished my second cup of chak. Nothing for it, I suppose. Greetings, welcome to Grenus’ Hovel, I’m Lenore Wraithwhisper, your new boss.”

Another round of blinking confusion.

“So it’s true then,” said a younger-looking Orc. “They really put an elf in charge of this place?”

“They did. I’m her. That gonna be a problem, pup?”

That got a snicker out of a couple of the older Orcs, and a blush out of the kid.

“Er, no boss. Just… it’s usually just Orcs that get sent here. Most of the other races have different punishments for their rejects.”

“Well, we’re embracing multiculturalism here at the Hovel lately. Congrats on joining up at the right time to actually have a chance at a future. What’s your name, pup?”

“Bale, ma’am.”

“All right, then, Bale. You just volunteered to be the lucky first speaker of the group. Tell me, what are you good at, and what got you sent here?”

“I’m a fisherman,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “And I, ah, got sent here for sleeping with the chief’s daughter.”

“Yeah, that’d do it. Well, I’m afraid we don’t have much use for a fisherman at present. Might find some use for that later, but for now we’re gonna have to find something else for you to do. Tell me… how excited are you at the prospect of hours of backbreaking labor chipping away at rocks and ore?”

The process continued on like that for about of half an hour. Each new recruit gave their name and their former occupation, as well as what they’d been banished to the Hovel for. By and large, there weren’t terribly impressive infractions. Some had crossed the wrong politician, some had been caught napping on the job one too many times. All of them were, if their stories were to be believed, relatively harmless. Most of them were trained in relatively useless skills at the moment, though there were two more miners, a proper builder, and one (impressively named) Felhammer Ironlung who was also a glassblower. She directed him to Ramus to get acquainted with the setup and then split the remaining ones up between Larry’s crew and Moe’s Miners.

By the time she’d finished that up, the rest of the camp had begun to rise and shuffle about. All things considered, she thought it had gone rather well. The recruits seemed genuinely surprised to get tasks right out the gate, she got the impression that it was generally understood that if you ended up at the Hovel, you were pretty much on your own and couldn’t expect any real leadership. At the very least, she’d shut that misconception down. Now she just had to get ready for the next batch in one week’s time.

She set Larry’s crew to work clearing out an area for the new latrine, since it was about to be much more pressing, and Moe’s team to work in the mines carving out the start of the new living quarters. It was going to be a bit of a challenge getting it taken care of in time but hollowing out a space for the next twelve seemed doable, so long as they put their backs into it.

Keseryn didn’t much appreciate the instruction to go to Cookie instead of Marble, but eventually caved to Len’s browbeating, which left her alone in the tent to think on things. With nothing better to do with herself, she pulled out the enchanted parchment paper and began chewing Astrid out for sending the recruits so goddamned early. Sometimes it was the simple things that were the most satisfying.