Page 4 of Warrioress

Renny glanced up from her work at her desk, her gray eyebrows arching. Wire thin but strong with lean muscle, Renny was still a force to be reckoned with since leaving her work as a guardswoman captain for the foreman’s desk. She even continued to keep her graying hair trimmed in the short, no-nonsense cut that she had always claimed was the most practical for her duties as a guardswoman. Uma wore her own hair in rows of tight braids gathered at the back of her head for similar reasons.

“Uma,” Renny greeted as she set her pen down. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you soaking my floor today?” She lifted a report and glanced down at it. “I would have assumed that you would already be at your station after your excitement last night.”

It seemed that the night guard had already submitted her report along with their own. They had certainly been surprisingly quick to do so at such an early hour of the morning. Her lips twisted with grim amusement.

“Nothing beyond my ability to handle,” she assured the foreman, but Renny shook her head.

“You know that is not what I mean. They need to be escorted out of the citadel’s territory, but with Mother’s Night coming up, I won’t have any of my guardswomen caught out in the worst storms of the season with them. Not to mention that it would be nearly impossible to find someone willing to put themselves in that situation when the males tend to have a strange biological reaction around that time. It’s going to be bad enough just finding anyone willing to be stuck in the same building with them. So my question is, what are we going to do about this triad?”

Biological reaction? Her confusion must have shown on her face because Renny barked a mocking laugh.

“You did not know, I take it?” Renny nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose you could say that they are biologically geared to go into rut during what would be seen as a denning time for their species during the worst of the winter weather. That is bound to make things...” she whirled her fingers through the air as she thought of the right words, “awkward. I would bet my bottom coin that half of their mates they acquire just by being in the right place at the right time during their rut.”

Hell. Awkward nothing. Awkard was putting it mildly. It wasn’t like the Ragoru wore clothing. If they went into rut, there would be hiding anything... and things were bound to get pretty tense in that tiny cell. Which reminded her...

Uma cleared her throat. “I didn’t realize that. That does tie into what I wanted to discuss, however. If we are going to have them as our... guests... for a few days still, perhaps we should discuss a humane way to deal with their presence.”

Renny gave her an arch look. “What do you mean?”

“Despite the complaints against them, much of what just comes off as outright jealousy on the part of some of the men around here—though we are investigating—the Ragoru have been cooperative.”

The foreman nodded. “The night shift would agree with you. Though none of the guardswomen on duty felt comfortable being within the station with them, they admitted that all three males, while dour, did not present any difficulties.”

Uma wasn’t surprised. It was pretty close to what she expected. The males were a surly bunch, but she hadn’t felt threatened at all in their company. “Which brings me to my point. We both know that the cells were not built for anyone bigger than the average human. To keep them locked in that small cell where they barely have room to turn around or lie down comfortably...”

Renny leaned back in her chair and nodded. “You raise a good point. What solution would you recommend?”

“Supervised and restricted freedom. They can leave their cells and even the guardswoman station without restriction as long as they are under direct supervision at all times with two guardswomen following at a distance to assist in case of an emergency when outside.”

A thoughtful look crossed the other woman’s face as she studied her. “You are not worried about push back from the locals?”

Uma shrugged. “Why would there be? We already have Ragoru populations within the citadel and nearby. And if any of the men from the tavern happen to come across the triad, a babysitter should be grounds enough to quell any anger.”

“That is fair,” Renny conceded. “The question is, who would volunteer to be that babysitter?” A tiny smile curled the corners of her mouth. “Are you volunteering, Uma?”

Uma could not quite hide her grimace, earning her a chuckle from the other woman. She really had not thought that far ahead; her focus had been entirely on getting Renny on board. “I didn’t really think about that particular detail,” she admitted. “I suppose I can’t think of any immediate objection, though it is bound to take me away from the station a lot. I would rather not have three restless males penned inside as much as possible.”

Renny nodded and set the reports aside. “I can reassign the night supervisor to assist you with overseeing the station whenever you are not there during the day.” She paused and gave Uma a meaningful look. “You do realize that you will be moving into the bunks immediately then, and staying until you escort the triad out of Old Wayfairer territory after Mother’s Night?”

Uma dipped her head in agreement. She wasn’t thrilled, but it made sense that she be the one to undertake it since it had been her idea. And if she were honest with herself, she would have to admit that she would feel better if she were the one overseeing everything personally.

“I will see to it,” she replied.

Renny gave her an approving nod before her eyes dropped back down to the paperwork in front of her, silently dismissing her. Taking the cue, Uma slipped out of the office and headed out with a pert nod to Bia in passing as she stepped outside onto the street. Drawing in a deep breath of frigid air, she blinked away the snow quickly gathering on her lashes and turned toward the guardswoman station in the lower district.

Time to check in on the Ragoru and see exactly what they had been up to.

Chapter 4

Vrin chewed lazily on the long rib bone, his sharp teeth slowly rolling it in his mouth before biting down on it as he studied the females that passed by their cell. While there was the occasional hint of interest in their scent, it was overwhelmed by wariness as they gave the cell a wide berth. He snorted quietly to himself with grim amusement.

Was it not the way of things? Even with the fawning behavior of the females in the tavern, there was always a wariness masked with an eagerness to please that he found increasingly annoying. They did not hesitate to approach but they acted like prey—skittish and easily startled. Vrin had long begun to suspect that coming to the citadel at all had been a bad idea on their part. He did not wish for a female he would have to continuously be cautious around so as not to frighten her.

He snapped his teeth harder on the bone, and it cracked beneath the pressure. As expected, the guard closest to their cell winced and stepped farther away, drawing forth more of his dark amusement as he watched.

“If you continue to intentionally frighten them, you are going to guarantee that not a single guard is going to want to come close enough to the cell to make sure we have food to eat or water to drink,” Kam observed wryly.

Vrin glanced at his triad brother and shrugged, his ear flicking in faint annoyance. “I do not have anything better to do. I might as well get something out of our situation.”

---