All's Fair in Love and War

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱.4 | 𝔑𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯

The Lord's tent was empty when she awoke, eyes fluttering open to the sound of Piglin chatter and clanking armor from beyond the leather walls. Pushing herself up, Zephyr eyed the furs she'd been splayed upon, stomach down. Looking around the tent, it occurred to her to wonder where the Lord had slept.

The Lord.

Groaning, Zephyr forced herself upright, if only to take her mind off the embarrassment of last night. Not only had she exposed her injury in weakness, but she had collapsed before him in the most humiliating way possible. All that and she hadn't even addressed him by his proper title! If he didn't skin her alive this morning, she assumed the only reason would be him not wanting to ruin his neat stitching job.

With a great effort, Zephyr stood, finding herself already dressed in a shirt similar to the one she had been wearing before it was ruined. Boots also intact, she stumbled out of the tent in search of food, her stomach more of a pit than it usually was at the palace. The morning light was searing, especially after the magick she'd used last night, and Zephyr took a moment to adjust, blinking a few times where she stood. Once her vision cleared, she made her way towards the smell of meat cooking somewhere in the camp, tracking the smoke that filtered up between the tents. In a camp as small as this, the mess pots weren't hard to find, and she was able to locate which one Finrir sat around.

"Good morning," Zephyr greeted, standing awkwardly beside the log where Finrir was sitting. Getting odd looks from the others who were sitting around the mess pot, Finrir scooted to the side, inviting her to sit.

"Good morning. Did you get that wound taken care of?" Finrir's accent was rough, but his tone was friendly, and she gratefully accepted the plate of food he passed her. She didn't even ask how he knew she was injured.

"More or less. Didn't know Lord Technoblade was a physician," Zephyr sighed, mumbling the last part. Finrir laughed.

"Well, eat up," he said wish a chuckle, "We'll make it to the nether today, you'll want to be ready for it, newcomer."

A twist of heady anticipation coiled in her stomach, and Zephyr grinned past her aching muscles, shoveling the nondescript meat and potatoes into her mouth. The warriors around them seemed surprised at her lack of care as she ate, but Zephyr was too consumed to notice. She was far too busy being shocked by the amount of food they had given her.

Leaning in to Finrir's side, she whispered, "Are you sure it's alright for me to eat all of this?"

The Piglin seemed surprised by her question. "What do you mean? Of course it is. We all need our energy." He grunted and stood, shoveling the last of his meal into his tusked mouth before trotting to the river they'd camped by.

Turning from where she'd been watching Finrir go, Zephyr stared in awe at the large portion. Never in her life had she been allowed to eat so much. It was always 'the only thing you're good for is your body' and 'we can't have you getting fat now'. Zephyr had been kept on the edge of starvation almost her entire life.

One of the nearby Piglins who had overheard her exchange with Finrir addressed her now. "What, the Overworld lady doesn't like pig food?" He sneered, leaning in.

The tone didn't faze her, in fact it was quite familiar to the way she had been treated for most of her life. "You mistake me, I was commenting on the generosity." She mused, facing him briefly before returning her full attention to her meal. The Piglins decided to leave her be after that, apparently agreeing that she wasn't worth the trouble right then. After washing her plate in the stream, Zephyr tracked down Finrir to ask how she could help with taking down the camp. If he regretted showing her kindness when they first met, he gave no sign, happily setting her on a new task every time she would finish the one he gave her. Zephyr drug water up from the stream for the fifteen--now sixteen--horses, and saddled them, helping the other warriors with their tents and sleeping mats since she had none of her own to attend to. As the sun inched up in the sky, Zephyr plowed through whatever work she could find, trying her best to prove she could be an asset.