Although, as she thought about it, after she'd already finished the statement, she couldn't help but realize she hadn't really done anything to keep others from overhearing her. Which in turn made her realize that she had to be more tired than she'd realized.
Not that it really mattered given how close they were to the palace and how Jenn was confident that she'd be able to perform the demonstration herself. So, Jenn pushed the thoughts of the dream out of her mind, determined to not let them bother her as they continued on their way towards the palace.
When they reached the palace gate, the guard who'd been escorting them, handed the note and bag over to the guards at the gate and backed away, looking like she expected to see a show, her smug expression giving her intentions away clearly.
However, Jenn nearly laughed out loud when her expression changed to one of disbelief when the guard at the gate looked at the note, checked the contents of the back and pulled out a whistle before blowing on it. Then she turned to Jenn and nodded. "We've been expecting you. Pohlea will be here shortly to escort you to the queen," she informed Jenn.
Jenn smiled as she nodded. She wasn't sure if it was merely a proximity to the palace that this guard recognized the note as authentic or if it was merely because she'd seen the queen's signature more often than the one who'd brought them here, but Jenn was at least glad that they didn't have to do a repeat performance of the incident outside the city gate.
Then the guard at the palace gate turned back to the guard who'd brought them. "And where do you think you're going? You brought them up here, so it's up to you to make sure that they don't go anywhere while they're here."
Jenn wanted to enjoy the expression that appeared on that woman's face, but she knew that she needed to help her out. As while she hadn't had anyone try to leave while they came up here, she couldn't say that it would remain that way.
"Keep everyone from leaving," Jenn told Embris. "We can't say how long this wait might be and I don't want anyone wandering off out of boredom. We'll all enter through the gate so we can show just how many of us there are to the queen."
Jenn wanted to say more but knew that it would waste her time, and it wouldn't matter because the words wouldn't help Embris out with the task she'd just been given anyway. Though, Jenn did look for Yaelish so she could tell her the same thing. After all, it would be easier to accomplish that if she had two others doing that for a total of three people rather than just herself and Embris. Not counting the guard who'd brought them, that is.
While Jenn had hoped that it wouldn't take long, she couldn't say that she was surprised when time just seemed to drag while they waited for Pohlea to arrive. So, Jenn sat down in the shade when the heat of the afternoon started to wear at her, feeling like sweat was pouring out of her. Though, sitting down in the shade didn't help much, as the sweat that she could feel running down her body started to turn cold, making her feel like she was freezing.
Yet even then no one showed up.
Jenn was starting to wonder if they'd be forced to camp out on the street in front of the gate as the sun started nearing the horizon, casting long shadows across the entire street, when Pohlea finally showed up through a side door by the gate.
"Sorry about taking so long," Pohlea said to the guard, barely sparing a glance at the mercenaries sitting on the street outside the gate. "What did you need me for?"
The guard didn't say anything, merely handed Pohlea the note with the bag. Pohlea looked at it and sighed. Then she looked at the Silverthorns before her until she saw Jenn. Jenn wished that she could take a picture of the expression on the woman's face. While she wasn't sure if Pohlea was happy to see them or not, it was clear that she had mixed feelings about Jenn returning. Not that she was all that surprised by that.
Jenn stood up as Pohlea started walking towards her. "I thought I'd seen the last of you when you were here last," she said, her voice sounding rather amused despite the contrast of her expression.
"Well, I did my best to get back here as fast as I could," Jenn answered politely. "Would have possibly made even better time if we hadn't been held up at the city gate." Jenn looked meaningfully at the guard who'd brought them against her will.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, but fortunately the lieutenant there was willing to actually think the situation through rather than decide for herself if the note was authentic or not."
Pohlea nodded. "Sounds like someone's in for a reassignment. Though, unfortunately I'm not in charge of her so I don't get to decide where she'll end up."
Jenn wasn't really that surprised. After all, Pohlea was in charge of the queen's guard rather than the guards outside the city. It would probably be a difficult job for one person to manage all of that on their own.
"Well, no matter what happened up to now, we returned and I brought what I promised. So, what next? Do we speak with the queen or do you take me to the chief healer? I'd like to get started on the demonstration as quickly as I can."
Pohlea sighed, shaking her head, her expression mixed with disbelief and amusement. After a minute, Pohlea sighed. "I'm not sure if the queen would want to be notified about your return, but I doubt she'd be happy if we conducted any experiment without her being notified prior to conducting it, so I guess I'll escort you to the queen." Pohlea paused for a moment as she looked at the others that Jenn had brought with her. "Although, we might be able to lose some of these people, since I doubt the queen needs everyone here to join us in the experiment you wanted to conduct."
Jenn wasn't sure she liked hearing about what she planned on doing an 'experiment' as she wasn't experimenting with anything. Instead, she knew what would happen and it was more of a demonstration. Yet, she kept quiet about her thoughts on the matter since she had a feeling that Pohlea and everyone in the palace probably wouldn't consider it anything else until they were able to see the results for themselves.
Not that it made Jenn feel any better about it.
Pohlea then turned and gestured towards the guard at the gate, which opened up to allow Jenn and her Silverthorns to enter with the captain of the queen's guard.
While Jenn was still in awe of the palace, she felt like she wasn't as entranced by it as she had the last time she'd seen it. She supposed that having seen it once, she was more prepared for the sight. Though, she did still wish that she could gaze on it all day.
Even as the light failed around it, it seemed to bring another charm to it, one that Jenn couldn't appreciate with the sun shining on the palace. Jenn could imagine a documentary about this palace taking up several episodes, as she had a feeling there was quite a bit of history with this place. History that Jenn wouldn't mind to learn a little about, as it would at least then allow her to spend more time looking at the magnificent structure.
At the secondary gate, Pohlea stopped after they passed through it, said something to one of the servants that were walking by, sending them scurrying away. Jenn wasn't sure what that was about, but when Pohlea didn't seem inclined to move after that, She suspected that the woman had something in mind that Jenn was pretty sure she'd just have to wait to see what it is.
Not that Jenn was unhappy with that fact as it allowed her to watch the palace as torches were lit to provide light against the encroaching darkness of the night, adding another facet to the palace's beauty that Jenn couldn't help but admire.
When Yaelish shook Jenn after a while, Jenn was at first confused and annoyed that her gazing at the palace was interrupted, but that quickly went away when she saw that someone else had appeared, someone she wasn't sure if they were a servant or a guard or maybe even something else altogether.
_
Embris was surprised at the rooms they were brought to. Each had what she was told was a 'bed' for them to sleep in, something she hadn't even heard about before.
She'd fully expected a straw pallet, but as she lay on the bed, she was surprised at how comfortable it was. The mattress poked her like straw, and was told that it was stuffed with feathers. Though, she wasn't sure if she believed that, considering how small feathers were.
Not that she planned on trying to find out, as she didn't want to ruin things for the mercenary company, and she doubted it would look good on her recent promotion and rank for her to be the cause of losing the contract so quickly.
Though, aside from the bed and mattress, the room was sparsely furnished, though she at least had a table and what she was told was a dresser where she could put things, such as her equipment, which would make it easier to store her uniforms when she wasn't wearing them, though she had gotten used to them being in her bag, though she did agree with Tchisa when the wrinkles were commented about. Not that she had been able to think of alternative methods of storing them up to this point.
Besides, she only had one spare, that way she'd be able to get it washed while avoiding being out of uniform at any point.
A knock on the door to her room startled her. She hadn't expected anyone so soon after arriving, but she wasn't going to make whoever it was wait, as she couldn't be sure if it was someone just wanting to talk, to feel out what kind of officer she might be, or if there was a purpose behind the visit that was actually important to her as a new officer.
When she answered the door, she was surprised to see Yaelish. She could have sworn that she'd gone with Jenn to meet with the queen, but quickly pushed that thought out of her mind. Whatever she had thought couldn't make the person in front of her any less real, so she invited Yaelish in. Not that there was much room in her quarters to begin with.
"Sorry it's so cramped," Embris started to say, but Yaelish quickly held up a hand, cutting her off.
"From what I understand, all our rooms are the same size. So, I knew precisely how big it was before I came in here," she informed Embris in a business-like tone. "What I needed to talk with you about was structuring shifts as we guard the queen."
"Shouldn't Jenn be part of that discussion?" Embris asked, wondering what kind of input she could give. "I was just barely made a lieutenant, so I don't know what kind of suggestions I can give."
"It doesn't matter what rank you have, just the fact that you were given any authority at all is. Besides, we can always update her- Jenn when she gets here. First we need to structure a rotation so everyone knows when they'll be on duty guarding the queen and where that'll be."
Embris nodded, though, she did wonder what Yaelish had been about to say just before she said Jenn's name. Though, she figured that it probably wasn't that important. She just wasn't sure if it was something she should try and figure out since she had a feeling Yaelish wasn't going to tell her what that had been about if she just merely asked about it.
"Okay, so first, I think you and Jenn should take opposite shifts," Embris remarked as Yaelish pulled a piece of parchment out of her uniform pocket. "That way we have our two top authorities on a shift with each of you being in charge during that entire shift."
Yaelish was shaking her head before Embris had even finished talking. She wasn't sure what that was about, but she couldn't say if that was a good thing or not. It just seemed like she disapproved of the entire suggestion, at least as far as Embris could tell.
"Actually, we'll be having three shifts. Since you're our latest lieutenant, you're third in command and Jenn and I already talked about this when we were still on our way back to the settlement. That we'd have three shifts. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any downtime for anyone, as they'd mostly either be on duty or sleeping and, especially the ones who would have guard duty during the day, wouldn't have much opportunity to go out in the city to see what things are like there. What we need to do is figure out who goes in which shift. You're going to be in charge of your own shift. Though we might have to make adjustments if any other mercenary companies also get the contract, since we can't be sure of just how much of an area the royal guard was in charge of here."
Embris felt like she should be ashamed for thinking so small. It was clear that a lot had already been planned out before this moment and she wondered if there was any real need for her to have thought that she'd have been able to contribute anything. After all, she was pretty sure that Yaelish and Jenn had discussed things on their way back here, but clearly they hadn't included her. Something that, while normally she wouldn't have given it a second thought, actually hurt with how they wanted her input now.
"I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something without me, since you've already done so much already," Embris said, not caring if she was being rude.
However, to her surprise, Yaelish merely chuckled. "Yeah, Tchisa had said you'd probably react this way. Though, we would have brought it up before but it just seemed that we only really had time to discuss it before we'd reached the settlement, as after that, Jenn always just seemed too tired to be able to focus on the discussions. Which is why I thought of seeking you out at this time, since Jenn isn't likely going to be ready for that kind of thing when she gets back. Assuming she does tonight, as who knows if she'll end up being quarantined with whoever she gets sent to help while she'd performing her demonstration."
"Fine," Emris grumbled, not happy that someone had seen how she was going to react, making her feel like she'd been made a fool of from that simple fact. "Though, don't blame me if-"
Emris stopped talking when another knock on her door interrupted her. Embris moved to answer it, not sure how she'd react if it was one of the other Silverthorns seeking to talk or were searching for Yaelish.
However, the words died on Embris' tongue as she saw an unfamiliar woman when she opened the door. She clearly wasn't a member of the Silverthorns. She had on a uniform that clearly showed she was from another mercenary company, had white hair, and one eye was pink while the other was blue.
"I'm Ivesse," she introduced herself before Embris could recover from seeing her as opposed to what she'd expected to see. "I'm from the Jet Eagles and was told that those who were in charge of the Silverthorns was in here."
"Actually, we're the second and third in command," Yaelish replied. "Our captain is meeting with the queen, performing a demonstration to prove she can treat the spotted plague."
Ivesse's eyes widened. "Wow, for a claim like that to be able to do anything about a tool of divine punishment is certainly bold."
Embris shook her head. "Not really, I was treated by someone else for the spotted plague not too long ago myself. So, I know that it can be done."
Ivesse held up her hand to stop Embris from saying anymore, which rather annoyed her. "I'm not here to discuss who can treat that or not. I'm here to discuss the fact that we've both been commissioned to guard the queen. What I want to know is if those under my command will be expected to work with your people or alongside them. Do we share times we're on duty or do we alternate?"
Embris glanced at Yaelish. She supposed that this was better to have happen now rather than after they'd already worked out a schedule for their own rotation. After all, this way they wouldn't have to rework the schedule after it'd already been worked out completely.
"Well, until we know how our companies will be able to get along, it might be best to have our companies alternate who's on duty. That way we'll merely have the times of changing the shifts to worry about our people disagreeing about how to go about guarding the queen," Yaelish answered calmly.
"Not a bad suggestion, though I'm sure a new company like yours would think that way, since you're still probably trying to get them under control, with how fast you've been growing. I was thinking that we could have some of my people on at the same time as some of yours. That way we know that the queen's guarded well at all times."
Embris wasn't sure she liked the attitude that this woman had, but she couldn't argue that many new mercenaries were headstrong and didn't do well when taking orders, yet Tchisa seemed to have a way of breaking that habit in people. Not to mention how she seriously doubted that Tchisa would have allowed anyone to have volunteered for this if they were still like that. Not with how important the contract was.