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Expansion Post
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The Island of the Sacred Few

It was a grand thing compared to the small transport fleet. The sun had begun dipping below the horizon, turning day to night. Arrosa found herself on the deck of the single escorting Trireme, standing with her surrogate father. He looked ever more fragile in his old age, and she felt her heart squeeze with both love and anticipatory grief. The island was filling the blackening horizon by now, and the trireme made landfall as the last rays hit the sea. Transports too began hitting the beach. Soon enough, a camp was established.

"Father, do you truly believe this isle to be best for your people?" Arrosa asked as she attempted to keep her attention, despite the late hour. "They are not my people alone, Arrosa. They are ours. They do our bidding because we know what is best - whether they know it or not. What we need now is a staging ground. A location to build our army, to train them. One day you will lead them in my name, Arrosa, and the world will tremble with each step you take."
The old man turned to their tent with a grunt. "For now though, we should rest. There shall be much work for us in the days ahead, and while we still have time I want us to enjoy it."

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Three Months Later

Panicked shouts echoed through the camp. Arrosa, who was busy practicing with her spear and shield, almost immediately dropped them and ran towards the sound. Her trainer protested, but Isamu never was able to catch up to her - the girl was one of the fastest runners in the settlement. In addition, Rano was the only one allowed to touch the girl. The swordsman always put it down to overprotective parenting, despite the child not being the Hileko's.

It took her less than a minute to run to the origin of the shouts. When she came closer, the cause was obvious - one of the loggers had been lax in his approach to safety, and caused one of his colleagues to be pinned under a tree. A pool of blood spread out around the man, and one of his arms was bent in an unnatural angle, bone sticking through his skin. Anyone could see he was effectively dead, even if he was still breathing now.

The fourteen-year old scowled at the inaction of these men. "Get the tree off him, idiots!" She shouted, and like golems the men roused from their shock and quickly began lifting. As soon as they did though, the man underneath began screaming, blood causing him to gurgle through from time to time. Arrosa inspected the labourer closer, only to see that the pool of blood came from a branch that had penetrated the man's torso. Seeing this, the girl drew her dagger and stabbed the doomed logger through his neck. A short spurt of blood escaped it, before he collapsed, dead.

Isamu watched all this from afar. He watched as Arrosa commanded the loggers to become gravediggers for the day, and when she had them punished for breaking regulation. She certainly had the makings of a leader - though she'd need to get rid of her rashness. One day, that would cost her dearly.