small smile, at both the thought of Senri dealing with the yet unborn sibling and Kian figuring out something was wrong without needing to ask anyone.
“What are you up to?” she asked, looking at his profile as they walked together.
“I was training with Willem and Gentrin. I have to make sure they’re both at their best. Willem was never the most comfortable with a sword, but he’s handy with it. Since they’ve never been ones for travel and war, I’ve been trying to get them up to speed with many of Senri’s guards.”
“If you need any help, let me know,” she said, poking his ribs.
“I will.” He used the arm over her shoulders to pull her closer and kissed her forehead. “I haven’t yet because I know it would wound their pride to have their daughter beat them into the ground.”
“They’d get used to it. Everyone else does,” Mave said, shrugging. Kian laughed. She looked around. They weren’t even halfway to the war room yet, but she was glad to see the entire group together, with Rain now matching Alchan’s stride. Leshaun was next to Luykas, poring over a book together.
Her eyes wandered farther to see a set of faces that nearly pissed her off again. Kian had brought her back down, but seeing Asari, her husbands, and Kenav annoyed her beyond belief. Kenav was grinning at something the bitch was telling him with a smile on her face. Mave was still watching when Asari looked over, Kenav’s eyes following.
Mave wished she could hear what Asari said quickly, looking away. Her mouth was moving, but Mave was just too far away. What did Asari think about the group around her son? He was the king, and he commanded the loyalty and friendship of the best warriors.
Others stopped and paused in their work, something Mave was used to. People tended to take notice when the Company was walking together, talking about their next missions, the rebellion, or even just in silence. There was a comfort they drew from each other.
When the group made it to the war room, Mave found Dave and Learen talking inside about logistical things she stayed out of. She patted Dave’s shoulder and smiled at him, getting a beaming grin in return. Trevan hovered behind them against the wall. Mave knew his gryphon must have been left either at their home or tied on a post in the woods by the building, away from any possible horses and out of sight.
“Thanks for Learen. He’s good at this.” Dave started organizing the papers on the main table into stacks.
“I hope so. He’s a retired Ivory Shadow,” she said, nodding at the one-handed warrior, who nodded in return.
“All right. First off, my apologies for yesterday. I needed a moment away, and it shouldn’t happen again before winter,” Alchan said, looking over the room. “Luykas, you and I discussed where Seanev should focus his efforts. Would you verify those with Bryn’s newest information and what we learned from the spring campaigns? I know you both must have done it already, but I want to see it again. I’m considering sending out a few smaller teams to disrupt places Seanev might not be able to make during summer.”
Everyone was watching as Bryn and Luykas walked around the table, pointing out a number of different places on the map.
“Bryn’s scouts found that even though we hit nine Elvasi camps in spring, Shadra has a few more. Based on this information, these three are Seanev’s targets.” Luykas pointed at three spots. “He knows them, has them marked on his map, and plans to hit them in this order.” Luykas tapped each one, going from the farthest from the village to the closest. None of them were within a week’s journey of the village. “There are also these four.” Luykas pointed out the next ones. “I think small teams going in and destroying their supply caches will cripple them, and they’ll be forced to withdraw from the area.”
“Agreed,” Alchan said, leaning over the map. “Bryn, were your scouts able to get firm numbers on these locations?”
“Yes, but they’re dated now. Shadra is probably still feeding men into the campsites in those valleys. All of my intel is a week old, at best. I won’t hear from the long-range scouts for another week, and you know how it is. That information comes in dated. I’ll write them down on markers,” her rogue husband said, grabbing little wood circles. Using ink, he wrote numbers on them,