Snippet #2343477

Having collected and donned the majority of her clothes, and shooed her bedmates out of her bed and then from her tent, Lenia approached the bronze wash basin that one of the men had thankfully filled with clean water fresh from the firepits just before Flavinius had arrived. Not wanting to waste the fading warmth while living in such a cold place, she reached her hands in and, making for herself an adequate cup, brought the water up to her face in an attempt to remove her previous disheveled appearance. After repeating this process until her vanity was sated, she was quick to dry every inch of her that had gotten wet so as to avoid experiencing any more of that damnable cold that she despised.

With said morning routine completed, and the appearance of her reflection acceptable, she approached the table on which Flavinius had set her breakfast and slid the bowl of assorted foods to the side so she could examine the map that lay under it. The table wasn't as big as she would prefer, what with a, rather small, map occupying the majority of it, but such luxuries were sacrificed for practicality. Taking a seat in the stool beside the table, she dragged her finger across the map along the path she would prefer to take, stopping just before she crossed the border. Though it was under layers of extra cloth and furs, she was still wearing the vivid red clothing of her native land, and seeing its name scrawled on a piece of parchment made her desire to be home and her resentment of the place she now resided even fiercer.


Once free from the gauntlet of people swarming the heart of the camp, the walk passed quickly and Neira reached Lenia’s tent without incident. She hesitated outside the entrance, not wanting to intrude unannounced and see something she was not meant to. Since fabric does not lend well to knocking, she indicated her presence verbally. “I am here… Neira.” She drew the door aside and peered in to the tent. Seeing Lenia seated at the table, she assessed that the work had begun and it was alright to enter. She crossed the tent with careful steps respecting the area belonging to the one she served under. Stopping next to the table she looked over the small map. “Time for our next move, is it?”


Rather enamored with her imaginings of what it would be like to be back home; bathhouses, warm weather, having several servants, and people who could actually read, Lenia was unaware of her second's presence until she spoke from right behind her. Recoiling her hand from the map and turning her body just enough to see who it was that had stormed their way into her daydreams, she took a moment to recover and let her pulse calm itself. After the momentary and awkward second passed, she turned her attention back to the map and rested her elbows on the ragged wood of the table. "The time for our next move was days ago, now we must pack up camp immediately and make our way to one of the borders." Placing her finger on her preferred destination she turned her gaze slightly so as to look upon her native advisor. "I plan to head south; winter is coming and I lack a savage's tolerance of the cold."


“Mm…” Fixing her eyes on the point Lenia had selected on the simple map, images of the area in question began to surface in Neira’s mind. She scanned the paper trails between the suggested destination and their current position. Though trying to remember a great many of the thoughts stored in her mind felt like trying to grab snowflakes with warm hands, something about spatial memory made it return to her clearer than anything else. She felt that she could travel almost anywhere in the kingdom just by closing her eyes, though the images she saw was not always accurate down to the detail, as evidence in minor changes to the lands they had traversed thus far in the rebellion. After pouring over her memory for a moment she opened her eyes. “Yes, that is a good plan.” She hovered a finger over the map, highlighting an area just off where Lenia had selected. “There is a warm wind that blows in from the south over the border just here. The area has good visibility. There are some fairly large bugs – but they are high in protein.” She moved her finger to a portion between the two places. “There are some unmarked swamps here. Not too serious, but you may lose a boot or two if you’re not cautious.” She retracted her hand and brought it to her mouth, making sure she had not left out anything of importance.


The lack of a proper topographer and the confidence that a barbarian could even create an accurate map had left the rebellion with a rather uninformative map. While cities and major geographical locations were noted, the knowledge that Neira had just provided with her chief would likely only be found by associating with those Lenia would prefer not to associate with. Regardless of their poor map status, it was good to know that her preferred location had some actual value besides being near the border and being somewhat warmer, evidenced by the nodding of her head whenever a new detail had been described. Finally, after Neira had withdrawn her hand from the map, Lenia placed her hands upon the edge of the table and, using the leverage provided by them, stood with enough force to send the poor makeshift seat tumbling back. Admittedly, the back of her calf, which had been the body part to strike her former seat, was rather sore from the unexpected impact of her attempt at being dramatic. After a brief and hopefully unnoticed contortion of her face in response to the pain, she regained her complete composure and addressed her second. "Then it is decided that we make for the southern borders. If the tyrant manages to stumble upon us, we will cross the border and hope he is fool enough to follow."


Neira watched the stool as it tumbled backwards and rolled to a stop an admirable distance away. A subtle smile emerged in response to her commander’s enthusiasm, and she turned her eyes back to address Lenia. “Yes, we can hope,” she said in approval. She wondered briefly what was over the border that could assist them. If there was more men there why not just recruit them to this side? The thoughts melted away with the simple trust that Lenia knew what was best. Believing that there was not any further help that she could offer, she took a step towards the door. “I’ll go and assist the preparations – if there is nothing else you need.”


With important terrain and locations now added to the makeshift map through an incomprehensible shorthand of scribbles, everything that required Neira's presence had been completed. Seemingly aware of this, Neira had began making her way towards the exit while the symbols were added to the parchment. Lenia, with the last drops of ink scattered onto the map, glanced toward her advisor as she left. "That will be all." Flavinius would likely be bringing the sickly prince to her ten soon and it would be very awkward to have a native witness any of the scenarios she had planned for their meeting.

Returning her gaze to her newly altered work to plan out an actual path to travel on, she uttered a slight reminder. "Next time, Neira, bathe before you come to my tent. It's been a week and you still smell like a corpse."


A moment of silence passed. Neira took a small whiff of the air around her but could perceive nothing. Not that her sense of smell had been all that reliable as of late. “Yes… o-of course.” A somewhat awkward bow of the head was offered before she turned and she left Lenia to her work. As she watched the dirt pass under her feet, he fingers grazed over the wound on her arm. She had bathed, quite thoroughly at that. The wound the only thing she could think to blame for the scent arising. A soft sigh left her lips as she came to terms with the idea that she could not evade medical attention for much longer.