1875-05-06: The Auxillia At Work
The Auxillia At Work
Summary: The Auxillia begins preparations for the coming battles.
Date: 1875-05-06
Related: A Relief For Boredom, Fire And Water, Across A Field In Winter, Devil's Tongue, If At First You Don't Succeed, Flayed Favour, An Evening In.
NPCs: None
Players:
Alia  

Alia lifted her eyes, as the light of the candles by which she was working momentarily flickered. She finished the brush stroke that curved along the shoulder of the armor she was working on, before she set down the brush and rose to her feet to replenish the supply her work table. Those that were too small to be produce a sure light were set aside to be reclaimed, recycled, and their wax used to make new candles. She was not a woman given to waste, even in such small things as this, for every resource was precious. As she went through the task of replacing old for new, she allowed her gaze to rise high enough to take in the old banqueting hall. Like many of the rooms and buildings within Paras, it had been turned from a space of idle celebration to one of work. Perhaps, in the days to come, this space might once again see such entertainments of the rich and the idle, but it would not be today.

Today her auxillia were at work, a cluster of men and women assigned to each of the tables which were the only remnants remaining in the hall which gave any allusion to what the space might have been. They worked in shifts, around the clock, day and night. Some, her best alchemists, had been set to the task of making the lacquer which Alia had created, using the same exacting recipe that the woman had devised, so that nothing was wasted and that every scrap of their ingredients was made to stretch as far as the formulation would allow. Others, working with the pair of stewards she had requested, met each of the legionaires who came to the hall at the door, taking a careful inventory of the armor that was being handed off. It was a delicate business, to ensure that each man and woman of the legion, who had been instructed to clean and return their armor to as pristine a quality as they were capable, would receive back the armor they had delivered to the hall. Still others, along with their most able craftsmen, were working on preparing the more mundane ingredients required for the lacquer and saw it well-tended and in ready supply.

Alia did not consider the length of time those legionaires would be out of service, though she had instructed her auxillia to work as swiftly as they might. But not so quickly that the integrity of their work would be compromised, for poor work would render all of their efforts for naught. Alia had left the decision of who should be so outfitted and how the cohorts would manage themselves so that none was depleted to Darius and his commanders. As he trusted her to do her work, she trusted him to do his.

Alia set the final candle into the holder, lighting it with the bit of reed she had touched from wick to wick, before blowing it out and setting it in its holder. The task done, she returned to her station, picking back up the brush and returning to the armor she had been working on. Soon enough, she would take her allotted rest, no more or less than any of the other auxillia were allowed, before it would be her turn back on the worktables, making more of the precious lacquer. As she set to work, she did not look ahead to the end of the task, for there was never truly an end to the work. Nor the challenge that lay ahead. To perfect the formula she was now applying. For now, there was only now, and the work at hand.

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