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((The Monday Triple: page 1 of 3))
There was also the not-so-small matter of caring for all the climate-controlled pods. In fact, that was perhaps the biggest challenge of this journey so far. Almost every non-servant among the Rainlords was sleeping in one right now, the few exceptions being those like little Ramira Elroy, whom the Sandlords had given their most advanced heatproofing suits to.

That meant that more than two hundred pods needed to be lugged around and protected. Stacking the pods on huge trolleys was the only thing that made the task feasible, but given that the total number of servants at their disposal was only around fifty or so, it still ended up requiring quite a large percentage of their total manpower.

For the most, it was Lord Diego Redwater and Lady Evangelina Stroud who oversaw the effort and gave the pods the most attention, but Hector saw everyone else either pitching in to help or glancing in their direction frequently. And it wasn’t difficult to understand why. If even one of those pods was damaged, it meant someone’s life. A family member’s life.

No doubt, this was why the Rainlords seemed so grateful for the shields that he’d passed out earlier. He discovered that much of his work had gone toward reinforcing the pods directly. And certainly, an added layer of heavy shields made the pods even more unwieldy than they already were, but that was a sacrifice that the Rainlords did not mind making, apparently.

They unloaded some of the pods and brought them into the inns with them, but the majority remained outside with the camping group. The innkeeper on Hector’s side didn’t look especially pleased with so much floorspace being taken up by unconscious people in pods, but perhaps he was too afraid of the Rainlords, because Hector didn’t see him challenge them on it.