"I haven't done it but I understand one can customize them a bit," Grec elaborates, "and if one's familiar were always going to be the one getting mindread instead of oneself that would affect the matter. Anyway. The Commander'll be pleased you're staying on for the Endures."

"Mmhm.  I can start now, if you'd like."  (Ugh.)  "You said there were stables?"

"Yes, did you mean to start there?"

"If it'll take longer than fifteen minutes then I suppose I should start," (with the people?  What if there are people being kept in the stables.  With the humans?  No, there are more than humans out here too) "in the hall.  I was imagining there being fewer stable-dwellers such that it might be possible to get all of them at once?"

"Not so long as fifteen minutes if you cast at full speed. Is Fiaten going along to make you a perpetual machine or do you need other company to copy?"

"I can go get him if there's not something surprising about what's in there such that I'd need a guide regardless."  Is there anything obviously like that he can get off of Grec -

"About the horses? Not especially. They're... black. Fluffy, for horses. It's a cold-tolerant breed."

"No secret horse people being kept prisoner who I should skip over?  None of them will bite off the fingers of anyone who tries to touch them?"  (Actually, a moment ago he wasn't sure what the selection of animals would be, so this is already informative.)

"If any of the horses are people that'll come as a perfect surprise and it's probably a demon," says Grec tiredly. "I don't know all their temperaments but if people were losing fingers I'd hear about it."

"Alright.  ...We're going to want to go on patrols, in a day or two.  The familiarish half thinks it'll help confirm what you've said about demons."

"Only if you find any. Most don't. And the ones you do find are usually stunned from having gone through the barrier and will not be awake for interrogations or whatever it is you have in mind before they are killed."

"As long as they're not dead we should be able to get some information just off looking at their dispositions."

"Uh-huh. Well, you can go on patrols, though I have gone and already taken you off the ones Vallvé assigned originally and most people find it is not in their interest to have the schedulemaster wishing they would catch fire so perhaps you'll wait a day or two."

"A day or two," he nods.  "I expect despite the rough start here we can come to create a situation where almost no one wishes we'd catch fire."

"Wouldn't that be nice. Anything else or shall I have someone show you the stables?"

"No sir.  That seems fine."

Grec buttonholes an internal patroller and has them show Feradi the way to the stables; there's a route that doesn't go out of doors.

Then once he goes and collects Aten the two of them can touch a lot of horses.

The horses are, as promised, fluffy and black. They are domesticated, on the whole, though they vary slightly in temperament, and no finger amputations are attempted.

Soft!

...Probably they should not risk missing another patrol before it goes out; it will be better to pet them tomorrow.  Off they go.

Patrols go out every fifteen minutes, divided among those returning to adjacent forts and those whose home posting is #11.

Does anybody want to chitchat?

Some of the squads are chatty amongst themselves! Most of them seem to have a strategy of interacting with foreign adventurers which boils down to "don't". Maybe it smooths things over about the icky devil worshiper situation. This wizard-sergeant will smile in an approximately friendly manner, insofar as Chelish people do that, and wave, though, while she's waiting for it to be time to go; her squad has formed up a little early.

Wave.

Anything notable overheard from the internal chatting?

People are confirming amongst each other that these guys have been here doing this thing for like kind of a long time now! But they're reasonably good at keeping their voices down, so while they also say other stuff it's hard to catch more than the occasional word without trying really hard. Maybe the next fort over has a cold going around. Maybe this bag of mail should get where it's going a little quicker, can it go right out with the next counterclockwise, yes, fine, here's a cut of the bribe.