Camp of the True Queen of Glacia, Central Glacia, Sunday Evening (Fandom Time)

[glacial_witch]

Karla looked at the heaps of the dead surrounding her camp and blinked back tears. The only "upside" to this--and yes, Karla was thinking of that in quotations--was that most of the dead were not her own

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[not_a_parakeet]

There was blood on his hands. On his arms. Splattered across his chest. Staining the otherwise shock-white feathers of his wings. Some of it was his blood.

Most of it wasn't.

There was no falling to his knees to cry for Warren, today. There was no stealing away to throw up in the snow where nobody could see. He didn't have that luxury, not anymore. He just stood quietly, overlooking the carnage.

War was war, indeed.

[glacial_warlord]

Karla had turned and gone into the Healer's pavilion, which meant that Warren was the highest-ranking person still on the battlefield. Okay, technically, Morton could claim the same distinction, being Karla's First Escort as well, but it was handy to have someone else around to make the big decisions with.

"So, we have logistics to think of," he said, coming to stand by a blood-spattered Warren. "What are we going to do with the dead?"

[not_a_parakeet]

"They..." Warren didn't take his eyes away from the battlefield. Didn't dare. He was going to remember this, so help him. "They all deserve a proper burial, but we don't have that luxury," he murmured. "Time. We don't have the time to dig and mark graves for all of these people, even if we do have the resources."

He pulled in a deep breath. Closed his eyes. These were not the decisions he'd grown up thinking he'd ever have to make.

"We... do have the resources to gather the dead into one place, though," he murmured. "Smoke and ash aren't the best option, but it's better than leaving them to rot. Can we realistically build a funeral pyre large enough?"

In an ideal world, they would have tried to get their families here to at least identify their loved ones. But with children and pregnant women in the swarm as well, he was pretty sure there weren't any.

[glacial_warlord]

"We can if we use witchfire," Morton said, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "We might want to do it after the bulk of the army has left. I don't know if adding the smell of...you know, that...to everything else our people have been through tonight will be a good thing."

[trigons_child]

Raven had gone numb. She'd wrapped up all her emotions, all the fear and horror and rage, and bound it deep inside her. Maybe later, when she could find a place to be alone, she'd let it out, but for now, she focused just on healing the injured, moving from person to person to do what she could to mend their wounds, and trying not to dwell on those she couldn't help.

[glacial_witch]

Karla came into the Healer's pavilion and beelined for Raven, holding out her arms and wrapping her friend into a solid hug. Yes, people needed Healing stat, but, for a moment, Karla needed an emotional anchor point.

"You doing okay?" she asked, voice shaky.

[trigons_child]

"I am all right," Raven said automatically, though she sounded dazed and tired. "Though there is still much work to be done."

She let down her shields enough to relax into Karla's embrace and hugged her back just as tightly. "This is not your fault," she said softly, knowing the awful burden this would put on her shoulders.

[glacial_witch]

"I'm the one that took the shield down," Karla said, voice hoarse. "If I hadn't...at least none of our people would have died."

[heromaniac]

As soon as everyone was done eating and Ulrich had won their pantomime game, Momoko flipped open her power compact so they could call Karla.

WEEKLY REPORT TIME!

"Mark, let Denys out of the chokehold."

"It's training!"

"Mark..."

"Yes, Lady."

Boys.

[glacial_witch]

The phone rang a lot before it was picked up with an irritated, "WHAT?!"

Sorry, Momoko. But Karla was busy trying to sew flesh back together. She wasn't really in the mood for idle chatter.

...That she had mandated, yes.

[heromaniac]

Whoa. Momoko blinked and looked up at the others - the phone was on speaker so that they could all hear it, but Momoko was looking at the vid screen, too. "Karla? What happened?!"

The rest of the team had fallen silent at the tone in their Queen's voice and Momoko turned the phone to Dinah to show her Karla apparently trying to sew flesh back together.

[glacial_witch]

"We were attacked," Karla said shortly. She inhaled a long, shuddery breath, once again fighting to remain calm. There was no place for anger in the sickroom, nor fear or grief, either. "Landens sent by Hobart. They were...altered. By Black Widow Craft."

She didn't have the heart to tell them that the army had been a hodgepodge of people, from the very, very young to the very, very old. No need to burden them with that knowledge.

"They were like zombies," she said, using shorthand that Momoko and Dinah would understand. "They wouldn't stop coming until everyone was dead."