Callie's Heroes

PART III - GET IT TOGETHER, PEOPLE!

The bell near the seating area rang out, and those recruits eating their lunches or relaxing stowed their things and stood, stretching in the warm sun. Other recruits that were still dispersed on the field in training quickly wrapped up and moved briskly to follow the rest. Callie was in the midst of discussing other categories of skills she and her Symbiote had reviewed as options, including such things as healing or even non-combat spells that might be useful, like Jesca’s ability to now summon water. The conversation with Jesca and Lena quickly died off with an implied promise to resume it when time allowed.

That morning, the Legate and Thorn had the recruits practice getting themselves organized and then making themselves presentable for important visitors arriving mid-day for the holiday. It hadn’t gone very well, with a lot of confused people unsure how and where to stand, a few others taking things far less seriously than they should have, while others started to get frustrated at all the horsing around.

It was eventually Sergeant-Major Natala, with a little additional gruff growling from Tazrok telling everyone to pay attention, that finally got people settled. The Dwarf, obviously experienced in getting soldiers into formation, pointed each class to an area, organizing them with shorter people in front and the taller ones behind, each trainer standing next to their respective recruits. The exception was Major Celeste, who would be standing with the command staff owing to her double duties.

Now, a few hours later, Callie and the rest walked down the hill, Artemis joining Jesca from where she had been napping under a tree. The little unicorn foal somewhat glared up at Iris, who was still riding on Jesca’s shoulder, much like a multi-colored dragon-parrot. Their introduction the evening before hadn’t gone particularly well, Artemis immediately worried she was being replaced as Jesca’s Companion. When Jesca had finally talked her down off that ledge, the unicorn then started to get a little jealous, as all the recruits and others cooed over the adorable new addition to Jesca’s menagerie. Iris, for her part, chirped and purred at the attention, because many of the hands reaching out to pat her head also came with a piece of jerky or other delicious snackable.

Before assembling in the camp’s courtyard, everyone needed to stop by their houses to drop off any weapons, their backpacks, and to leave their helmets. The Rangers were permitted to keep their Fedoras, and Lena her beret. In fact, Lena’s hat had gone over so well with her classmates, that the Major immediately ordered identical ones for the rest of her recruits, as well as herself. Like the Rangers’ fedoras, the maroon piece of Earth fashion had become unofficially part of the uniform for the Bladedancer class. With two classes having them, talk of class-unique hats was now rumbling through the rest of the students as well, with consensus generally leaning towards other-colored berets, although so far none had appeared.

“Do we have any idea who’s coming?” Lena asked as she joined Callie and Pixyl in the garden. There was a quickly-moving line of people who were refilling their waterskins with something cold and fresh.

“If I had to guess, probably some military people,” Callie replied, yawning. “I mean, they are putting us all at attention for an inspection when they arrive. The only other person I know of that will be coming is Thorn’s son, but I don’t know if that’s with this group, or the one coming tomorrow.”

“His son? Is he married?”

Callie shrugged. “I assume so. He’s never mentioned it, and I’ve never asked.” She wasn’t sure why, and she didn’t say anything, but part of Callie was looking forward to seeing what a Ratkin child would look like. Presumably he’d look like a mini-Thorn, but there was still a curiosity.

After filling their water, the recruits all made their way towards the courtyard in small groups, Jesca joining Callie, Pixyl and Lena en route. Upon arriving, everyone separated before gathering loosely in a group for each class, simply milling about and waiting. For the Rangers, Reynard had been wheeled over by someone and had been chatting with Vonn and Shul’an when Callie and Jesca arrived.

Vonn waved Callie over and handed her a small bottle containing vaguely-greenish liquid. “A Wake-Up potion,” she said. “We don’t need you falling asssleep.”

“Uh, thanks,” Callie grumbled as she stared at the potion. “I think.” Sighing, she swallowed it back, re-stoppering and storing the empty vial in a pocket on her belt. It was just as awful as it had been the day after the black lotus bloom, but immediately she perked up as the magics washed through her.

“It might be best to put Artemis away,” Reynard suggested to Jesca. “The people arriving have likely never seen a unicorn before, and we don’t need them stumbling out of their carriages and falling on their faces when they see her.” The unicorn swung her head towards Reynard and narrowed her eyes. “I’m sorry, I know it’s not to your liking,” he added, addressing the Companion. Before Artemis could object further, there was a wibble of magic and she was gone.

“Do you want me to put her away, too?” Jesca asked, pointing towards Iris.

Reynard hesitated. “If she can behave, she can stay out. But if she starts to act up or get frightened by the commotion, do the same. Otherwise, it will be good for her to be around this many people.”

Jesca and Iris exchanged a long sideward glance at each other, before the Beastmaster nodded. “She says she understands.” Much like Artemis, Iris wasn’t a big fan of being recalled either, for exactly the same reason as the foal. “I’ll pull her in if things get to be to much.”

“So who’s coming?” Callie asked casually.

“Most are the spouses of the staff,” Reynard said. “But there’s at least one important person, too, so I expect all of you to be on your best behavior. Especially you!”

Callie ignored the barb. It was probably justified. “Master Trainer Thorn mentioned his son. Is he with this group, or is he coming tomorrow?”

“He’ll be here today, along with Thorn’s wife, Ravina.”

“Oh cool! I look forward to meeting her.”

Reynard growled something low. “We’ll see. Ravina is … sometimes she can be difficult, and the moon’s not up for a few weeks yet.”

Before Callie could ask for clarity on that confusing statement, there was a trio of blasts from the horn. “One kilometer,” a voice called down from the lookout above the gate as a second trio of blasts sounded.

“Alright! Get it together, people!” Sergeant-Major Natala called out. Callie could immediately tell she was fully amplified, even before spotting the faint, telltale sigil on her chest. The commanding Dwarf pointed and called out recruits by name if they seemed confused or were being too silly, the target of her attention quickly falling into line each time. “Move it!”

For the Rangers, Callie took her spot, with Thucax on her left and Reynard, seated in his chair on her right. Behind him was Vonn, with Jesca standing behind Callie and then Shul’an to the Cheetahkin’s left. The chatter and murmurs slowly died down as everyone got organized, and soon you could hear the distant clopping of incoming korrox hooves and the squeaking of wagon wheels.