The Guardian Slayer (botw fanfic)

11. Devan

By the end of the first day, they had reached the outskirts of southeastern Central Hyrule. They set up camp at Batrea Lake, across the river from the Hyrule Field. Devan examined his map. He had hoped they would have reached the Lanayru Wetlands, but traveling was taking longer than expected. Though, they ran into many more monsters than he had anticipated along the road. He counted about a dozen monster encampments that they had fought that day. Since they had the advantage of surprise, no one got majorly injured which was a relief. Only a few cuts and bruises.

He looked back at his soldiers settling down. He was a little worried about the overall mood of the battalion. He had tried to be optimistic when he described the mission, but it was kind of hard to sugarcoat the fact that they were basically marching straight into a mass monster invasion. Also, the mentions of guardians were met with nervous muttering among the soldiers. 

When he said the Sheikah newcomer, Akkami would be handling the guardians, many of them exchanged doubtful glances. He couldn't say he completely disagreed with his peers. She was just a girl his age! AND she worked alone apparently. He felt a little bad for judging her fighting ability based on her age. Lots of people are surprised when Devan tells them he's the commander of Fort Hateno, but GUARDIANS, that was just unbelievable, and to be fair, he hadn't actually seen her fight yet. His soldiers took care of all the fights that day. 

He shut his map and joined his soldiers, who had set up a fire and were starting to eat dinner. Meat and mushroom skewers were retrieved from their supply wagon and passed around. Lively conversation filled the night air as people tried to lift each other's spirits. 

He took a seat next to Granoli and another soldier named Cara who was having an arm wrestling contest on a tree stump. Her opponent was clearly struggling, straining to keep his hand upright. She grinned and slammed her hand down, winning the contest. The spectators exploded in laughter and slapped her on the back. 

"Cara's got immense strength. She's easily the strongest in the battalion." remarked a soldier as the contest continued. 

"Yeah, she took out an entire monster encampment on the way here!" said another soldier excitedly. 

The soldier who lost to Cara plopped down behind Devan, flexing his bruised wrist. "She's got the brute strength of at least 3 men." He said lowering his voice. "You know... I'm pretty skeptical about that Sheikah traveling with us."

"Me too. But you heard what the boss said. 'She's the guardian expert'." said another voice.

"Well, if that little girl fails, we've got Cara to punch those machines straight to hell!"

The two men laughed. Devan was annoyed by their comments, but didn't have the heart to call them out on it. Maybe because he kind of agreed with them. 

He looked to where Akkami was in the campsite. She was sitting under a tree and had started her own little fire. He felt bad because she was so distanced from the rest of them, so he stood up and went to where she was sitting. 

As he approached her, he saw that she was scribbling in a journal and eating rice balls. She was very focused in her writing and didn't acknowledge him until he sat down next her. 

"Can I join you?" He asked as she looked up.

She nodded slightly, but her face made it clear she was confused. She eyed him suspiciously and turned her journal away from him. 

"Uh.. I was just wondering how you're doing." 

"I'm fine." She shrugged. "Do you... need anything?"

"No... I just like to check in with everyone." 

"Ok." She scooted away from him and looked back down at her journal.