Story entry 17 - Watch and Wait

Hildreth was perfectly named. Her parents, back in Germany, must have know that she would one day grow into the cunning warrior she was with a deep knowledge of strategy. The council selected her as the Battle Counselor of the occupying suvians in Baltimore before they even knew that her name indicated that she could live up to that role.
Before this title was bestowed upon her, she filled her spare time as a life guard at Lake Roland. This was a favorite swimming hole for the suvians that lived in Baltimore, but not one that the humans would dare use. Her keen observation and her long-reaching tentacles made her great at this job, even though it wasn’t where her heart was.
These days she spent most of her time in solitude, atop various buildings in Baltimore, observing the comings and goings of suvians, humans, and most importantly the unsavory grootslang and yaogaui from the Inmost. After much persuading from Ola (the counsel mystic), and her friend Alti, the counsel began to take head to the demands the Lords and Ladies from the Inmost. Their attempt at appeasement and trickery with the animated dead as an offering, instead of living humans, was still uncertain. No official reply had been made, but Alti (as well as other suvians) were being followed and warned. Thankfully these intimidating tactics were diminishing, but Hildreth was on guard all the same. Those that dwell in the Inmost may well outnumber the suvians that dwell on the surface, but they weren’t pushovers and many could match them in their ferocity.
The day was gray and wet, but this didn’t phase Hildreth in the least. As a matter of fact, she felt the most comfortable in this kind of weather. A few degrees cooler would be perfect, but it didn’t matter much. She was content. The moisture filled the air and echoed sounds and refracted light from all around.
She was saddened to find that some of the reanimated corpses that had been given as a sacrificial offering had made their way back to familiar haunts. Hildreth was uncertain whether or not the offering were simply escapees (which could happen at times) or if they had been rejected all together. It was an added bonus of her job, that if she were to find that any of these reanimated corpses had returned, she was given the authority to dispose of them by whatever means she preferred. Now she had been a vegetarian for almost four decades now, but in her opinion, eating these “zombies” were not taking a living soul.
Hildreth had mistaken a few quite living humans for the reanimated ones because their mannerisms had been similar. Upon closer examination, she realized that they were on some sore of altering substance or they were reading their phone while walking. Both gave a similar appearance.
Cars honked in the distance and the light rain drew the sound in circles around here. The setting sun refracted in the droplets that clung to all that was around and Hildreth settled into her spot, aware that it may be some time before she was needed, but she would be more than ready.

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