With the multitude of questions, from both town leaders as well as participating members of the audience, the previously filled meeting hall was finally cleared out. With the public portion of the meeting ending, Etrius as well as everyone at the podiums headed towards a back room. The room was large, large enough to fit a table which could sit up to eighteen people. With everyone, minus Torie's secretary, taking a seat twelve of the chairs were used with Torie sitting at the head of the table and Etrius opposite of her. Along the wall with the door, maids were lined up with a cart holding pitchers or refreshments, should they be called for. Once everyone was seated and the door closed, Torie stood to address them.
"Greetings Ranger Washington, I am the temporary lord of the Haywood realm, and mayor of the territorial capital of Crasmere." Torie started off with formalities. "Starting from my left we have the leaders of the four largest towns in the territory, followed by the general of the local militia and the captain of the town guard. On the right we have the guild leaders directly relevant to your job. Let's begin introductions with the town leaders, followed by the general and captain and then the guild leaders."
The man directly to the left of Torie stood up. His clothing, though likely formal for the area, was a far cry from that of the capital. Though Etrius knew that it would be unfair to compare the two considering the differences between the inner kingdom and a distant territory. His suit, if you could call it that, was more like the formal clothing of a commoner. Aside from his clean white shirt, he sported a black vest with stained wooden buttons.
"Greetings, I am Evan Ives of Westbend, the largest agricultural town in the territory. It is a pleasure to meet you." The man bowed before taking a seat.
"Greetings, I'm Paul Owine, mayor of Riverside. As the name implies, we are a fishing town, which is one of the territory's major exports." The next man, dressed similarly to the last, said.
"I am Eric Judd of Fox Hill. We handle a majority of the logging, spread out throughout the territory." The third, wearing a gray and white checkered shirt, said.
"And I am Kevin Dane of Annpoint. We may not have the largest farms, but if you're looking for any sort of fruit, our orchards have them. It's nice to meet you." Said the fourth, an older man with a leather cap.
With the last town leader taking a seat, a man in a blue and white checkered military uniform, more practical than ceremonial, stood up. On his hip, Etrius spotted a dagger with an engraved pommel.
"General Jordan Tobin of the combined militia of the Haywood territory." He said. "I look forward to working with you."
"I am Peter Bloom, captain of the militia of Crasmere." The man closest to Etrius said, wearing a standard gray gambeson, as if ready to go on patrol at any moment.
As he sat down, a man on the opposite side of the table, slightly further from Etrius stood up. He was the only one among them that wore a sleeveless shirt, showing off his muscles and harry arms.
"The name is Adam Loch." He said. "I'm the leader of the local blacksmith guild. For any special orders, maintenance, or repairs we'll give you priority."
"Clint Ceps, head of the butcher's guild. I expect we'll be seeing each other in the future." The man in black said.
"I'm Luke Tores from the forestry guild. Any information on lumber operations you need, come to me." Said the man in simple clothing, as if he really had nothing better to wear.
"I suppose that leaves me." The last man, in all brown, said. "I'm Issac Chaser, head of the hunters guild. We keep track of all the animals brought into town and regulate hunting seasons in the region. Nice to meet you."
With the last man sitting down, Etrius took it as its' que to introduce itself.
"I am Etrius Washington, and as stated before, I will be the ranger assigned to this region." Etrius said. "I look forward to working with you all."
Its introduction, though short, was all it needed to state. For the time that was. As it took its seat, Torie smiled.
"Now that that's out of the way, we can get to work on the specifics." Torie said. "Ranger Washington, as I am aware, you purchased a house on the edge of town. Are there any improvements, or any way we can make things more convenient for you?"
"If possible, I would like to have regular deliveries of hay for my horse, but other than that, there's nothing." Etrius said.
"I'll see what we can do." She nodded. "I suspect that you have maps of the territory?"
"I do, though I would like to compare them with your maps as I'm not sure how outdated these are." It said.
"We have detailed maps of the region in the barracks, as soon as we heard that you were coming we started making copies of them. They aren't ready, though I suspect that we'll have them by the end of the week." General Tobin said.
"We also have a few maps that may have a few trails that our hunters use. They're small enough that they may not be on other maps. As soon as you get yours, you can come take a look at ours for these trails." Guild leader Chaser said.
"That would be well appreciated." Etrius said.
As they talked, Guild leader Tores as well as Mayor Judd took out neatly preserved leather bundles tied with hemp cord.
"Here we have lists of all active and abandoned lumber yards as well as a few of the larger carpenters of the region." Guild leader Tores said. "As well as the number of logs reportedly cut for the past ten years."
"If possible, I would like to have a copy of the years when there was no ranger stationed sent to the capital just to have a record for future reference." Etrius said.
"I'm not sure when it could be done, but if you need it we'll gather them." He said.
"Only at your convenience." Etrius said. "Though as a start I would like to send a record of the lumber yards opened and closed in that period."
"That is something that we can have done in short order." He said.
"Excellent." It responded.
"I suppose you're going to want records for the hunts as well?" Guild leader Chaser asked.
"Just a list of active hunters for the past few years and an estimate for how much was butchered in those years."
"That we can do." He nodded.
"As for how much was butchered, it'll take a bit as we have lists of how much each town butchered, but not the individual shops." Leader Ceps said.
"That'll work." It said.
This line of conversation continued with both sides asking for documents, organizing deliveries to the capital, and seeking clarification between the jurisdiction of town guards and militias and those of Etrius. Etrius, though a single person, was specially trained for these situations that the guards had to deal with and could conduct investigations more efficiently. In the long term, it would greatly lessen the load on local authorities. Over the next hour, information was exchanged along with a formal chain of command in the event of an emergency. At the top was Lord Haywood or in this case the temporary lord, followed by general Jordan, with Etrius and Peter holding the same rank. This was due to Etrius not being a soldier but as a ranger and direct contact with rangers who had access to the king.
With things settling down, the guests started taking their leave. First it was the mayors as even the closest one had a two day trip back to his town. Following them were the guild leaders, leaving the temporary Lord Torie, the general, and commander with Etrius. Though they too soon stood to take their leave.
"Well, I suspect that any further talks will have to wait for the maps to be ready." The general said. "When they are ready, we'll send word to you so you can pick them up yourself. This is a security concern. Even with the town as safe as it is, we can't hand them off through normal means, and we can show you the response and evacuation shelters in town as well."
"I understand." Etrius said.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your time." He said.
"When you visit, we'll introduce you to the soldiers and if you want we can go a few rounds in the training ring." Captain Bloom invited.
"Unless it's in archery, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up." Etrius said. "But I'll think about it."
"We'll take our leave." The general said.
"Until we meet again." The captain said.
The two left, leaving Etrius, Torie, and her maid, and part time, secretary alone in the room as the rest of the maids were doing final rounds of the building and preparing Torie's carriage. Turning away from the door, Etrius looked at Torie, who had just looked like she remembered something.
"Forgive me, but we I don't believe we mentioned your budget, did we?" Torie asked.
"No, I don't think we did." Etrius said.
"Zen?" Torie asked, turning to her maid. "Could you check my podium to see if I left any papers relating to that on there?"
"Of course." Zen bowed.
With the tapping of her shoes, she exited the room and closed the door behind her. As her steps grew distant, the two turned to each other. Sighing, Torie smiled and stepped close to Etrius. Lowering its hood, Etrius did the same to her. Wrapping her arms around its neck, Torie pulled it close and their lips met. For a moment that seemed to go on forever, but in reality took only a few seconds, they enjoyed each other's warmth. Separating their lips, they looked into each others eyes. At that moment, the world slowed and their surroundings turned gray. The crawling shadows ceased movement and even the distant hums of the Deacons stopped Outside, if one were to look, leaves that were falling from trees and birds that flew the skies were suspended in air. Anyone that could move did not. Torie, her smile grew softer and she let out a warm breath.
