Jennifer did not give them an answer in the council chamber. However she did not give an out right refusal, or acceptance either, atleast not enough to hold on to. She left while voices were still circling, stepped out into air that felt thinner than it should have, and by the time anyone thought to follow her she was already past the outer posts, standing where the village ended and the forest began, watching people who had no choice but to keep moving.
She had stayed, not for the reasons one may think, and it was definitely not because of the pressure she face from them. The elders had tried to wrap it in duty or survival or anything that sounded noble when spoken aloud but she knew it was more than that.
She stayed because every time someone looked at her now, they looked like they expected her to do something about it, and she could not quite bring herself to walk away from that.
The changes began quietly and rapidly after her usurped authority, almost politely. A few houses marked for recruitment with names being called out as the new village heads began implementing their brutal plans . The first families moved without much resistance, carrying what they could, telling themselves it was only temporary and soon their lives would be normal again.
By the third day, things became more aggressive as the mass draft continued. Men who hesitated found hands on their shoulders that did not ask twice. Doors that stayed shut were opened anyway with force as furniture was dragged in resistance, it was truly chaotic at some point.
Jennifer watched most of it from the training grounds because that was where she had decided she would be useful. Arguments did not stay contained by walls as soldier stormed in to draft families. You could hear when someone lost more than they were willing to give.
The Druid Guards filled faster than expected with the army growing, their fear of a human assaults' ever present.
Some came with that tight, stubborn look of people who had decided resistance would only get them killed later. Others came too easily like enthusiasts who waited for this day to come, they were more than willing to serve the mass mobilization of the population into an army.
What she had not expected was the children, not all of them, but enough, this made her fume in anger as the disdained the shameless village heads who didn't value their lives, she tried to bring it up with Lariel but was shut down immediate at every notion.
Those who already knew how to move through the forest without breaking branches, those who had thrown spears before or handled knives with more familiarity than most of the recruits, they were pulled in the same as the rest. Some didn't bother even bother resisting. A few looked almost relieved, as if the line between what they were allowed to do and what they could do had finally been erased, even if it had been done by force.
Jennifer adjusted her perspective. If they were going to be here, if they were going to be handed weapons and pointed at something that could kill them, then the least she could do was make sure they understood what they were holding.
The first session was obviously a mess. Some held their weapons like tools and not deadly weapons', others like they expected them to break, and a handful gripped them so tightly their knuckles went pale before they even started practicing. She spent more time stopping mistakes than teaching anything new. Footing was wrong and timing didn't exist.
She didn't raise her voice much against them but it was kind of frustrating.
When she did, it was sharp enough to cut through the noise, not loud enough to feel like anger. "If you swing like that," she told one of the boys—no, not a boy, he only looked like one because he hadn't slept—"you'll be open here." She tapped the side of his ribs with the flat of her blade. "And you won't get a second try."
He nodded too quickly. Tried again, almost made the same mistake, caught himself halfway through.
That was enough for now. She moved constantly, adjusting grips. Pushing shoulders back, kicking feet into better positions when words didn't stick. When someone fell, she didn't rush to help them up unless they stayed down longer than necessary. Most learned faster that way.
Kaelith watched more than he spoke. He stayed at the edges of the training ground at first with arms folded, eyes moving over the group in a way that suggested he was counting something other than numbers. When he did step in, it was precise. He would take one person, correct them with a few quiet words, demonstrate once, and leave them with something they could actually repeat.
At some point, without either of them saying it outright, the rhythm settled.
Jennifer handled the chaos mostly. Kaelith refined what could be refined, turning rough motion into something that wouldn't get them killed immediately.
The defenses changed alongside the people too. At the edges of the village, where the tree line thickened and sightlines narrowed, they began building heavier installations. Thick frames anchored into the ground, reinforced with whatever timber they could spare, built to hold tension.
Jennifer stood beside one the first time they tested it. A carved log, its end sharpened to a brutal point, was fitted into place. The mechanism creaked as it was drawn back, ropes tightening, wood straining under pressure that hadn't been properly measured because they didn't have the luxury of precision.
"Its too much pressure on the mechanism, this might take a while as my calculations need adjusting" the engineer muttered under their breath.
When they released it, the sound snapped through the clearing. The log launched forward, not smoothly, but with enough force that it tore through the air and buried itself deep into the far embankment, splintering on impact.
There was a moment of silence after. Then a few nods from the engineers as they scribbled something on paper. A few adjustments already being discussed.
More of them were built as they lined the approaches, angled to cover the most likely paths. Crude, heavy, and effective in the way things were when you didn't have time to make them elegant. Anyone coming through those routes would not be doing so unchallenged.
Still, for all the movement, all the preparation, there was a limit to what numbers could do.
When the training ended each day and the recruits drifted off in exhausted clusters, when the workers returned to reinforcing structures that might or might not hold, the two of them remained, both Jennifer and Kaelith.
Sometimes they trained, unlike in the way she taught the others who were frail. Movements tested at the edge of what could be controlled without breaking something important. Other times, they just stood at the perimeter, looking out into the forest that had grown quieter over the past few days.
"This may actually be enough to hold and suppress a small army of humans" Jennifer said, not looking at him.
Kaelith staring into the distance remained expressionless. "Maybe, For now hopefully."
Behind them, the village continued to change shape. Guards took positions they had not chosen and the sound of construction didn't quite cover the absence left by empty homes.
Jennifer watched it all with a steady kind of attention that didn't soften anything. She had chosen to stay but that didn't make any of this easier to accept. It just meant she would see it through.