The city of Tulian, predictably, was a fixer-upper. Aside from the obvious damage borne of a decade of neglect that had eroded considerable chunks of the buildings, there was still the rubble left of a supernatural hurricane barrage. Ignite had begun training volunteers of the Crossed Glory, both to serve as marines aboard the ship for Nora or as city guards, and the former Carrion Sergeant did so by having two dozen of them marching up and down the city streets, coordinating to clear debris that had always been too rge for any of the small groups that poputed the city. It was good practice for working in tandem, but it also served to cement Sara's authority in the city, as they always marched in clothes sporting hastily spped-on symbols of Amarat.

  What Ignite's crews couldn't address was the more spectacur damage. The massive chunk of the seawall's archway had nded across the city's widest street, an artery that had once funneled goods from the bustling docks out to the rest of the country. It was a wide road even by Sara's standards, seventy feet across, and it ran the mile and a half from the water's edge to the innd wall without deviating an inch. Clearing that essential pathway was something Sara assigned to Hurlish and herself, reasoning that they had the most demolition-adjacent experience. Granted, most of Sara's was actually constructing things, not destroying them, and Hurlish was a bcksmith, but they were still the best on hand.

  A fifty-foot chunk of solid granite proved the first thing Sara'd seen outmatching Hurlish's hammer. The burly orc swinging with all her might only produced a webwork of uselessly small cracks, though Sara was impressed she was able to damage it at all. Without any spells capable of causing serious damage to the stone, Sara spent hours scouring her mind for some modern solution to the problem. In the end, she had none that were actually possible, given her resources. TNT would work great, she'd bet money on that, but Sara was fresh out.

  In the end Sara decided to do things the hard way. Hammer and chisel, impaling a line of iron spikes into the stone. It was slow going, especially because she was working on her own. Hurlish had to go and actually make the spikes, which meant she spent a couple days cobbling together a forge from the half-looted remains of Old Tulian's smithies. Sara worked at the granite all the while, soaking in sweat that made her increasingly certain she would have been better off waiting for some explosively minded mage to stroll through town.

  Her small cadre's first week in Tulian was spent in simir fashion. Everyone split up to various tasks, taking to their specialties. Nora, naturally, never set foot off the Crossed Glory, but she did send plenty of orders and supply requisitions innd. Ignite carried those requests throughout the city, using Ketch as a local guide and scout. The fishgirl was actually frequently requested by Nora, who loved having someone that could breathe underwater to check the hull of her ship. Ketch equally disliked the task, and if the small woman didn't want to be found, she simply wouldn't be. Combat skills aside, Sara had to give her accodes on her stealth.

  Perhaps Sara's greatest regret was the fact that she didn't find a way to avoid one of her old life's greatest miseries:

  Meetings.

  Not for the first or st time, Sara shuddered as she approached their warehouse home. After a week in Tulian, the scattered chats that she'd had with her various friends and girlfriends was no longer adequate. She needed an actual idea on how they were all doing, and if the other's assistance would be helpful. Evie had turned herself into some bizarre hybrid of consort-secretary-tutor, taking and sending notes, quizzing Sara on history and culture, and flitting across the city during her brief forays away from Sara. The feline had never compined once, but Sara still didn't like her juggling so much.

  Thus, the meeting.

  Gods help her.

  The actual meeting was held outside their warehouse, at the forge Hurlish had built. Even as they gathered, the orc continued working, hammering out the bdes that would equip Ignite and Nora's soldiers. She, at least, was one that Sara knew had been utterly content with her new duties.

  The others filtered in over a half hour or so, the usual slow drip of their return coinciding with the setting sun. Ketch was the only one who had to change her routine to be at the warehouse at sunset, because she lived with her father. Sara still felt a little bit weird about that one, to be honest.

  Sara tallied faces as the st of their little group pulled up chairs, lighting some torches for the darkening sky. Ignite, Hurlish, and Evie were present, as well as Nidd and Semel, Nora's crewmembers Sara'd befriended earlier. They sat at the front of a less familiar group: the freed sves and sailors that had decided to stay in Tulian. Sara had committed each of their names to memory, but had little time to socialize beyond that. Only Ketch appeared absent, but Sara couldn't be sure if she actually hadn't shown. The girl was damn good at hiding.

  "So," Sara said with a cp as Evie cmbered into her p, "how's everyone's work going?"

  "The recruits are progressing strongly," Ignite began without preamble. The career soldier shifted like he wanted to stand, his training entirely at odds with giving a report from a comfortable chair. "They are enthused and take to instruction well. No discipline problems have shown. I expect them to be trained to Guard standards before the month is done."

  "To Guard standards?" Sara asked, pulling a folded piece of paper from her pocket and giving it a scan. It was Nora's contribution to the meeting, sent from afar. "Captain Nora wanted to know if she would be getting Carrion Marines or sailors."

  Captain Nora had actually wanted to know quite a lot, judging by the front-and-back scrawled note, but the other items could come ter.

  "Respectfully, ma'am, if Captain Nora wants Carrion Marines, she will have to make them. Experience only on the waves makes a soldier, not instruction. I will provide her the cy, if she thinks herself a potter."

  "How'd your old Navy get all their marines, then?" Sara asked. "What'd you do, fill a new ship up with fresh guys and say 'hey, if you live through the next few battles you get a promotion'?"

  Ignite's lip quirked up at the corner, a subtle sign of amusement. Try as he might, the man still couldn't hide what he was feeling from Sara. "No. Recruits were pced cautiously among veterans, given pces of safety and importance until they could be proved. By the time they were told they are a Marine by me, they had already been one for some time."

  "Seems a fair enough system," Sara said, scratching out an abridged version of his response for Nora. Evie would transte it into legible handwriting ter. "What about you, Hurlish? Weapons going good?"

  "Yup," the orc said. Sara nodded.

  "Cool. How about the rest of you? Nidd, you found a healer yet?"

  The seamster-surgeon shook his head balefully. "None in all the city, it seems. Never have I heard of a pce all the churches have abandoned, Sara. It worries me, both for spiritual causes and the condition of those in my care."

  "How are the injured crewmembers holding up?" Sara asked. They'd debated between moving the wounded off the Crossed Glory, but decided against it, reasoning that the ocean-going ship was probably still cleaner than their leaky warehouse.

  "They are... stable?" Nidd tried. He shook his head helplessly. "I haven't cared for anyone without the help of a healer, Sara. All I can say is that they are not worsening, and they're not showing signs of deadly infection."

  "That's 'cause of you keeping your tools clean," Sara said. "Keep doing that, and they might just recover without a healer."

  Nidd nodded, but looked far from reassured. Sara felt a tickle on her neck, guiding her to look at the others. Simirly crestfallen faces were plenty, an odd mencholy that Sara couldn't find the source of.

  "What's up?" She asked the group. "Is not having a healer that bad?"

  "Uh, yeah," Hurlish said. "You know how careful I gotta be now that I know any little accident can put me outta work for weeks?"

  "It had hindered my training as well," Ignite said. "Beyond that, their absence implies much I do not like about this city. The will of the gods are seen through miracles. If we did not have a Champion speaking for its favor, I would consider this city Cursed."

  Sara pulled away from rubbing Evie's ears, ignoring the small rumble of disapproval. "Is it really that big of a deal to everyone? I mean, I know magic healing is awfully convenient, but surely people have lived without healers before."

  "Even the beasts of the Hells have those that seal their wounds, Master," Evie said from her p. "Healing is among the most common of independently realized magic, gifted freely by the gods to any who wish to help others. To not have a healer in a city, even one so atrophied as this, is highly unusual."

  Sara considered that for a moment, formuting a response, but was interrupted by Ketch plummeting down from above, nding crouched in the center of their small circle. She was no longer wearing her bck cloak, just a dark bikini top and skintight shorts. She turned first to Ignite, who was the only one unsurprised by her entrance.

  "There are no signs of prying eyes, unless hidden by magical means. I left my post because I had a contribution to the discussion."

  Ketch turned to Sara, and it was only then that she caught the deep blush running up her neck, the royal blue of her cheeks nearing bck. While she was willing to forgo the melodramatic cloak, it seemed she hadn't quite worked past the embarrassment of running around in an outfit that covered less than underwear.

  "There are healers in Tulian, mistres- Miss Sara." Sara hid her smile at Ketch's st-minute save, letting the girl plow on. "They aren't in the capital, though. I've escorted several people to them in the past."

  "Why wouldn't they be in the city? Isn't that where most people are?"

  "Not anymore," Ketch replied. "Most view the cities as dangerous. Too many in one pce may call the storms down again, supposedly." Ketch's eyes shifted, as if making sure the gathering didn't contain Tulian natives. "I think they're foolish. The cities have stood for centuries without issue. It's idiotic to believe it was the cities themselves that summoned the storms."

  "I'm with you on that second part. But why would the healers not help people in the capital itself?"

  "Most healers are the coocoo-crazy types," Hurlish grunted. "If anyone'd bme angry gods on random crap, it'd be them. Probably won't set foot anywhere near here."

  Ketch's eyelids, Sara noticed, twitched at Hurlish's words. She began to head to the warehouse wall, preparing to climb back up to her post, but Sara stopped her.

  "Ketch? Do you know any healer that's closer?"

  The woman halted, halfway up a drainpipe. "I..." She hesitated. "How bad are their wounds?"

  Sara looked to Nidd. He was awfully reluctant to speak as if he were a healer, but stepped forward and cleared his throat.

  "As I said earlier, they're not worsening, but the most severe aren't improving, either. Even with Sara's methods, it's only a matter of time before worse infections brew."

  Semel, who was sitting beside Nidd, added her own piece. "We're going through bandages like mad, by the way. Boiling 'them and washing them every time like Sara wants means they get torn up quick."

  Ketch stepped off the drainpipe, sighing. After the st week of "use", so to speak, Sara thought she'd wrung out every bit of Ketch's reclusive nature. Apparently not, because she leaned back against the wall, putting a foot on it with her arms crossed like a delinquent in a 90's movie.

  "I know someone that can heal, but she's not a healer. She's..." Ketch trailed off.

  "Weird?" Sara guessed. "Someone you're worried about bringing around the ship, because you're not sure how people'd react?"

  With a melodramatic sigh, Ketch nodded. "That's also true, but I was going to say she's my girlfriend."

  Hurlish immediately held her gut and boomed out ughter, mirth echoing down the streets. Ketch's blush deepened, darkening until she looked more like Ignite than herself. Sara silenced Hurlish with a gre.

  "Sorry," the orc said, still chuckling slightly. "It's just, y'know, not what I expected. The st healer in a cursed city, only one brave enough to stick around, and she's... what, your step-girlfriend, Sara? How does that work, anyway?" She ran a hand down her face, physically wiping the smile off her face. "Sorry. Go ahead."

  Sara shook her head. "Well, Ketch, tell her I'm not one to judge, and if she's healing people I can't imagine they'd ever get mad at her. Can she help?"

  "I'll have to ask her, first," Ketch hedged. "Like I said, she's not a healer first and foremost."

  "If she can help our people, that's good enough for me."

  Ketch nodded, then skittered back up to the dark roof.

  I swear, if she starts doing the Batman disappearing-behind-my-back thing when she levels up, I'm gonna strangle her, Sara thought. She's already getting better at sneaking around. I wonder if she leveled since we met? I wish people weren't so damn cagey about that kind of stuff.

  Sara was forced to refocus as Evie twisted in her p, tapping a written list she'd produced. Sara squinted, then groaned. Of course she'd made an agenda for Sara.

  "You're aggravatingly helpful," Sara said under her breath, reading over the items listed.

  "You can always punish me, Master," Evie replied with a breathy smirk. "I don't mind."

  "I think this retionship is giving you a skewed view of what 'punishment' means," Sara whispered. Clearing her throat, she began on the next topic Evie had suggested.

  The meeting progressed at a gcial pace to Sara, even if it was fairly brisk in actuality. Nora had a undry list of complex goods she wanted, half of which were an impossibility to find in the capital itself. Ignite wanted armor for his troops, not just weapons, and after some cajoling Hurlish reluctantly agreed to try her hand at making basic breastptes and helmets. That meant she needed extra material, more than could be scavenged and melted down, and there weren't any ironmongers (a title Sara thought too badass for the actual job) in the capital city.

  It was a trend that persisted through the meeting. As more needs and wants piled up, it became clear that they'd have to venture beyond the abandoned city.

  To be honest, Sara was relieved. She'd gotten used to being on the move, constantly making visible progress either on the task at hand or overnd, and the plodding pace of renovating Tulian had worn on her. A national leader that got bored by infrastructure projects probably wasn't the best, but it's not like she could force herself to enjoy the work. She'd always enjoyed welding, but she liked the detail jobs, connecting joints at tough angles and artfully winding her way through a self-made byrinth of steel. Smashing rocks and using the debris to fill potholes was productive, but also steadily driving her insane.

  By the end of the meeting, Sara had a undry list of random crap to grab. Nora's was most expensive, but could mostly be paid for by the goods stowed in the Crossed Glory's cargo hold. The rest would be on Sara, and as Evie tallied up the estimated costs, Sara could feel her once endless purse shriveling. They'd need some kind of revenue stream, and they'd need it fast.

  Sara said as much to Nora when she, Evie, and Hurlish stomped up to the Crossed Glory to summarize the meeting. With the deck empty of crew and barely a whisper of wind caressing the night, their words carried over the gssy harbor.

  "I'll have coin for you soon enough," had been Nora's flippant response. "Ships cost money, but I intend to earn my keep. So long as the prizes I take are first spent on my navy, the rest'll be free for you to use."

  "You really think you'll turn a profit?" Sara asked. "I don't want you robbing random merchants, remember. I'm not trying to run a pirate empire here."

  "But if the ships are crewed by sves, Champion?"

  Sara answered off-handedly, the solution simple. "If there's any divine sve colrs on board, make sure whoever holds them frees the sves from their orders, then execute them. If there's no magical compulsions involved, execute the svers and leave the rest. What happens to the ship after that is up to the remaining crew."

  Nora's grin was predatory. "Plenty of ships have crew pressed into service. So long as you let me nab them, I'll have my run of the lot."

  "If anyone's forced to work without pay, that's svery to me. You're smart, Nora. You know where I'd draw the line."

  Hurlish snorted. "Yeah. Way, way farther than anyone else."

  Sara shrugged. "Crimes like that get you the death penalty in Tulian now. That includes the coast."

  "And if I stray a bit farther from the coast, Sara?" Nora asked. "Shipping's not too fat 'round here, not since the storms. Most tend to sail further abreast, too afraid of getting caught in a typhoon."

  "Then get your wildest attacks out of the way early, I guess. Once you're more firmly associated with me, we'll have to keep you looking like I've got a firm grip on your leash." Sara paused, an idea occurring to her. "Actually, that's perfect. If we py our cards right, we can guarantee your early raiding isn't pinned on me. You run wild, get that fearsome reputation you want, and then I'll make a big show about winning your loyalty somehow. You get the bonus paragraph in your biography about being the 'mad captain that only a Champion could tame', and I get a pet tiger I can threaten people with."

  Nora, doubtful at first, warmed to the idea as Sara spoke. "Aye, aye. Don't much like the idea of being on a leash, but a caged beast is another matter. Just the idea of me slipping loose giving whole navies palpitations..." Nora ran her tongue across her teeth. "I could work that angle."

  "Great. We'll hammer out the details ter," Sara said. "If you're leaving tomorrow, I probably won't be here to see you off."

  "Too cooped up to stand it, too?" Nora guessed.

  "Basically. And I'm getting real anxious to see where the rest of old Tulian is hiding. I know they didn't all flee north, so they've got to be somewhere."

  "Couldn't they have gone south?" Nora asked. She tapped the side of her skull. "Remember, I don't know what's down there. No port cities."

  Hurlish, sitting on the railing, shook her head. "Nah, they couldn't have. I mean, maybe some poor fools tried it, but they're dead now. Ain't no surviving the jungle. My vilge could barely fight off the dregs that spilled out from its edges. Going inside is suicide."

  "So the popution's somewhere nearby," Sara summarized. "We're gonna go find it tomorrow. See if we can't get you some of the odder stuff on your list."

  Nora sniffed. "Don't spend more than a few weeks on it. Awfully convenient if I can get it early, but I'll cim what I need before the month's out. Now, a shipwright, that's something that..."

  The evening drifted off into the realm of te night conversation, half business, half pleasure. Sara joked and jabbed with her friends, enjoying the cool salty breeze until yawns began to interrupt too frequently to continue. She left for the warehouse, ughing as Evie cmbered up Hurlish's massive arm, decring that the orc would personally deliver her to bed. Hurlish rolled her eyes, but let the feline use her as a jungle gym without protest.

  As much as Sara had fun fighting, the little peaceful evenings like these remained highlights of her newfound life. She got a kick out of Ignite's expression, seeing the stalwart Evie sitting atop Hurlish's shoulders like a child, and she enjoyed the banter even as they fell into bed with one another, hands beginning to roam.

  Tomorrow, she'd probably be spending most of the day working, sword never far from mind or hand. Tonight, though, she could enjoy the warmth of friendly company.