The second Caledonia stepped off the lift, the five of them swept around her like a cloak. The entire group of twelve moved as one, a swarm of bees skimming through an orchard. As they traveled down a walled channel toward the stronghold, they gathered guards who moved ahead and behind until Caledonia was thoroughly and safely locked away in the center of the mass.

“You can’t keep bringing people into my city like this, Captain.” Hesperus dove right in.

Caledonia almost laughed.

“Our resources are strained as is. We don’t have the capacity to keep feeding these Bullets. Especially if all they’re going to do is sit there and sweat and eat my food!”

“They chose to be here,” Caledonia reminded him, patient but firm. “And it’s better than the alternative.”

“We can stretch our stores, Hesperus.” Kae spoke with the tone of someone tired of repeating themselves.

“But we can’t stretch our beds and I’m running out of room. I’m certainly running out of goodwill.” Hesperus spoke loudly now.

“There wasn’t much of that to begin with.” It wasn’t in Ares’s nature to seek out conflict, but when it came to what they did with defecting Bullets, he found all his sharp edges.

Hesperus’s expression darkened. Without breaking his stride, he said, “Show me their worth and maybe I’ll find a little to spare.”

“Can we build?” Amina spoke up from the rear. “There’s plenty of wood to be had in the forest. And there are plenty of hands to do the work.”

“There’s room to expand the current barracks,” Kae supplied, her eyes darting once to Hesperus. “And we can spare the supplies.”

“The Blades volunteer to provide labor,” Sledge added, his long brown braid swaying behind him.

“First they come for my city, now they come for my forest,” Hesperus muttered. “Yes, fine. If there’s space in the Orange Quarter to expand the barracks, then you have my blessings, but that sector stays firmly secured or I’ll burn it to the ground myself.”

“Make it fast,” Caledonia ordered. “Kae, you and Sledge coordinate crews and materials. Let’s get it done before housing becomes a problem.”

That was how problems went these days. While she was away, command decisions fell to Oran, but the second Caledonia returned she was bombarded with every issue that hadn’t been resolved in her absence. In this case, the problem of the former Bullets she’d sent back a mere day ahead of her own return. Relations between Oran and Hesperus remainded tense, but once a decision had been made, they moved on.