The War Against Aberon (Rough Draft #1)

Chapter Twenty-Three

    The meeting wrapped up soon after as no one wanted to remain on such a sore subject. Zaffre felt as if she'd both learned a lot and nothing at the same time. Some of it was helpful at the least so she rose from her seat comfortably. She thanked the ranked soldiers, as they also started to get up, and turned around to exit. Pulling the tent flap open, Zaffre came across a sight that forced her to hold back a chuckle.

    Laying just a few feet outside the tent was Freya. Her gargantuan frame relaxed as she raised her head to look at Zaffre with a bored gaze. Her movement proved to scare even more the small figure at least six feet from her that had already been shivering in their boots. The person was small, frail, and nimble. With pointed ears and beady eyes, Zaffre identified them as a nymph. Nymphs were creatures strongly connected to nature and were often very skittish. This one was just the same as they stared at the Pumeon with wide-eyed terror. Zaffre could see them shivering.

    "Did you need something?" Zaffre spoke from where she was so an approach wouldn't spook the little thing more than it had been. Her words seemed to draw them slightly from their fear as they glanced at her and then back to the oversized house pet.

    "Zaffre armor complete and must be put on, see if good fit or not, Big Cat need wear cloth too," the nymph stuttered throughout the whole sentence. Nymphs were beings that most commonly spent their whole lives living in a forest so their vocabulary didn't need to extend too far, but they were understandable and Zaffre got what this one was saying immediately.

    Soon after she and Freya had arrived at the camp, they were measured for armor and proper clothing suited for battle and not just practice protection. Or, at least Zaffre was, she wasn't quite sure what Freya could've been fitted for. Now the nymph had been tasked with picking them up so they could be properly fitted and make sure the armor was suitable. Movability was essential when it came to any clothing worn in war.

    "Lead the way then." Zaffre walked closer as Freya stood up. As soon as her bond moved, the little creature of the forest rushed to walk ahead of them to create more distance between them and the Pumeon.

    The nymph was speed-walking so fast it seemed like they were about to start running as they weaved between tents to get to the tailors. Zaffre walked normally, the small elf-like thing barely reached her hip, their speedwalking was almost a leisurely pace for the Felipara. Freya, however, took one step for every one of the nymph's twenty. In any case, they weren't in too much of a rush to get to the armor fitting. Zaffre enjoyed the wondering since she normally didn't see too much of the war camp.

    Soon enough they reached a slightly larger tent that seemed to have quite a bit of movement inside judging by the noise. The nymph motioned for them to wait outside as they eagerly pulled open the tent flap and entered. Before the tent shuffled close, Zaffre caught a glimpse of the hectic motions of the tailor and seamstress of the camp. Not a moment later did a Navaylan woman exit with a very serious face. The woman reminded Zaffre of an eel with her narrow face as well as the fact that she had no legs. Instead, she had a long tail reminiscent of a gorgon, just more fish-like. She carried herself in a way that had an unease rising in Zaffre that she didn't even have when in the presence of the King and Queen. She was scary.

    "Come in, come in, we don't have all day you know." The seamstress didn't even pause as she slithered into the tent, expecting Zaffre to follow. "No sense in dillydallying, get on the pedestal and I'll get these hunks of leather on you," the eel-like woman continued as soon as Zaffre entered.

    Zaffre could barely take in the crowded tent before she was once more ushered onto the pedestal in the center of it. As she finally stood she noticed the other tent flap from the other end closing and assumed it was the tailor with Freya's piece. She didn't have time for curiosity though as the seamstress busied herself layering the armor over Zaffre's clothing. The protective material was made from some sort of tough leather and was a deep brown. The breastplate was the thickest and was quite bulky as it was being strapped on.