Elunara handed John her board. "Today you're going to look like a flunky. Jitter, misspell, ask stupid questions. Don't care if you fumble the board a time or two and spend too much time trying to clean it back up."
"Generally look incompetent."
"Now you're getting it." She nodded. "Let's go make some rounds."
"I thought you said Kelly was on the fifth."
"No, I said Kelly was on the FOURTH. Clean the shit out of your ears." Elunara was surprised to see Renwa at the training yard with Duchie. She grinned and kept bitching at John for stupidity. They came up to Renwa.
"I see you're still trying to make him work." Renwa sneered.
"He's awful, but I make due."
"So Reba is..."
"Rebecca." Elunara rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Do you actually listen, or are you too busy fantasizing about Tippy?"
John blushed and dropped his board. "Sorry! Sorry!" He stooped down and hastily yanked papers on to the board.
"By the Gods, treat my paper with respect or I'll kick your fucking ass."
"Sorry." He grumbled. "I'm fucking trying."
"What was that?"
He shook his head. The papers mostly back in place; he stood up and popped the board closed.
"Hey, do you know how much damage a crease can do?" She put her hands on her hips.
He recognized that sound, and without even thinking about what he was doing, John held the board up. An arrow cracked through the back of it and broke out through the center. Everyone just stared at the board in his hand.
"Damn, John. I don't know if I should be pissed you broke my board, or impressed you blocked that shot."
Renwa wiped a hand across his mouth. "I do believe I'm impressed he just saved my life."
A soldier ran up. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I don't know what happened!" He held up the bow. "My shot went wild when the bow splintered."
Grogek marched up. "Let me see that."
The soldier swallowed hard and handed the bow over. "It was an accident, I swear."
"There's been damage to the wood." He frowned. "CHECK ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT NOW!" He bellowed.
Admiral Duchie put his hands on his hips. "Are you saying this was sabotage?"
Elunara glared at Duchie. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"
"Are you accusing me...?"
"I don't know how I did that." John was turning the board this way and that, looking at the arrow. He touched the tip and sliced his finger open.
"Whatever you just did, you've just saved my life." Renwa put a hand on John's shoulder. "And that means a lot."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
"You're dripping blood on it." Elunara took the board and snapped the tip off of the arrow and dislodged it from the board. Grabbing his wrist, she pumped enough energy in his hand to seal the cut. "Well, you're not completely useless, I guess."
Grogek added more weapons to the pile. "More than half of our weapons have been damaged, some beyond repair, many just simply to cause injury. Some of these will have to be re-forged, others replaced completely."
"Don't you people inspect this regularly?" Duchie snarled.
"We do a mass inspection once a month, and a daily inspection just before the weapon is put up. There are logs." Jordan handed over a log to Renwa. "Most of the items before you were inspected the night before and shown to have no defects. Our soldiers are supposed to give a cursory inspection when they pick up a weapon." He shook his head.
"Incompetence!"
"No." Elunara examined some of the weapons. "This had to of happened last night. If you look, the cuts in the wood are very precise, intending to have it fail in a certain direction. On top of that, the wood hasn't had time to discolor from use. These can't be older that eight or ten hours? Tops." She tossed the bow to Renwa.
"I agree with Elunara."
Jordan snorted. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear this was supposed to look bad on me. I'm the one who holds final inspection of the weapons at night."
"Funny how that works." Elunara murmured. "Well, in any event, I think we should send a message to Varian, see if we can get him to toss us some freshly forged weapons. That'll make up lost time." She tapped a finger to her chin. "In fact, I'll write it."
"Thank you, Elunara." Renwa nodded.
"Why her?" Duchie frowned.
"She is the Envoy, and King Wrynn's personal friend. Her letters don't get tangled in the usual red tape."
Elunara and Renwa exchanged a smirk.
"Then I want to see this letter first!"
Elunara raised an eyebrow. "Now I know why you read my books so often... the smut." She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure, Varian would consider some of the things I usually put in my... letters, to be a matter of PERSONAL secrecy."
"You are making an OFFICAL request!"
"No, I'm writing a letter. An official request might take us a couple of months. This will work much faster." She brushed her fingers across his cheek. "I can be very... persuasive."
He shuddered and stepped back.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to write."
She sent the letter through a personal courier. While she was at it, she tossed in a few letters to the SI:7.
"I fail to see why you insisted on using THAT courier, when we have a perfectly good one." Duchie crossed his arms.
"Because he's SI:7 and the courier Varian and I always use." She turned and left.
Varian ran a finger on the map and frowned. He looked up as the courier ran in and handed him a letter. Recognizing Elunara's flowery script, he rolled his eyes. Taking it, he opened it up and leaned a hip against the table. It didn't take him long to understand the message beneath the frill.
Elunara sat on top of the hill, drawing the scene below. As predicted, training had practically come to a screeching halt. They trained bodies and fists, instead of weapons and tactics. Grogek took the time to show them all how to go from weaponed, to disarmed, and how to survive or even win, without use of their weapons.
Duchie had taken to standing on the platform, just glaring down at the activities. She would have given anything to know what was in that tiny brain of his.
She spotted the arrival of Varian. Making sure he was looking up, she waved her arms in a specific pattern before snatching up her board and heading down to the platform. She tossed the crumpled paper and watched it flame out. A few moments later, Renwa appeared out of seemingly nowhere to come stand on the platform.
"Are they handling the loss of weapons well?"
"As well as to be expected." Elunara shrugged, popping open her board and adding more detail.
A trumpet sounded, and all three looked up, to see Varian coming over the hill. He ignored all else and headed straight for her. When he put his hands on either side of her face, she was momentarily stunned.
"Were you hurt?"
She put her hands on his wrists and smiled. "Oh, no. No, I wasn't the one in danger, darling. Renwa was the one who almost took an arrow to the face."
Varian let out the breath he was holding and put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad you're alright." He turned to Renwa and went official. "And you?"
"Elunara's newest assistant saved my life, with a well timed block using Elunara's board."
She showed him the damaged board. "I'm still trying to get it fixed."
"I'll replace it." Varian nodded.
