Mag-log inSebastianSeb noticed the change before Rowan finished pinning the morning rotations to the board.Myla’s name had been removed from the eastern shelter inspection.Tessa’s had been written in its place.He read the line twice, as if the ink might rearrange itself into something less obvious.“Did Tessa volunteer for this?” he asked.Rowan glanced at the board. “Myla changed it last night.”“Of course she did.”“She said Tessa needs experience with the outer shelters.”“Tessa has experience.”“That’s what I said.”“And?”Rowan gave him a tired look. “She asked whether I disagreed with the assignment strongly enough to overrule the Luna.”Seb almost laughed.That sounded like Myla. Calm, reasonable and already holding the answer she expected you to give.“Where did she put herself?”“Western records. Supply reconciliation.”A task that required no partner and kept her indoors for most of the day.Convenient.The side door opened before he could decide whether to confront her. A young p
AlecThe courtyard was awake before the sun.Lanterns burned along the eastern wall while pack members moved between supply tables and waiting horses. Leather creaked. Buckles snapped shut. Someone swore when a bedroll came loose for the third time.Alec stood beside the route board with Rowan and checked the northern line again.The old watchtower sat beyond two ridges and a stretch of territory no one had properly patrolled in years. Hensley’s directions were useful until the second ridge. After that, the route became memory.Rhea and Corin had volunteered before Seb finished explaining the risk. Rhea had tracked the eastern forest for twelve years. Corin was younger, quick enough to make up time if they found nothing and had to turn back.Neither of them needed to go.That was the part Myla seemed unable to accept.She moved through the courtyard with a list in one hand, checking packs against the supplies on the tables. Not hovering. Working.“Corin’s carrying too much weight on t
MylaElna closed the last jar and set it back in the crate. "At the current doses, we reach day forty. If Poppy's fever comes back before then, we start choosing between her and the elders. There isn't a version where everyone gets a full dose."Myla wrote the number down. Day forty. Not six weeks anymore. A date.A date that would arrive whether they found another source in time or not. Elna didn't say anything else. She just started re-sorting the jars by how many days each one held, as if arranging them differently might buy back time neither of them actually had.The door opened, and Seb came in stamping snow off his boots, a slip of paper in one hand."Hensley remembers a stand of feverroot near the old northern watchtower. Past the ridge, past where anyone's patrolled in years.""How sure is he?""Not very. He was a boy the last time he saw it. Could be gone. Could be smaller than he remembers. And it's two days out and two days back, through ground nobody has properly mapped i
MylaThe herbwife's stores smelled like dried mint and something sharper underneath it, and Elna was already on her knees in front of the lower shelves when Myla and Seb came through the door."I heard about Ashwood Hollow," Elna said, not looking up. "Figured you'd come.""How bad is it?" Myla asked.Elna pulled a wooden crate into the light. Eleven jars, most of them less than a third full, the dried feverroot inside gone the colour of old tea leaves."This is everything. I've been rationing since the first frost, and that was before we lost the supply line.""Who's currently on it?""Three elders with weak chests. Two trainees still healing from the border patrol last month. And Poppy." Elna set the crate down. "Tomas's girl. Fever hits her harder than most children her age. Twice last month, like Seb told you."Myla crouched beside the crate and lifted one of the jars, turning it so the light caught what was left inside."How long does a full course take for a child her size?""Fi
AlecMyla was laughing when Alec reached the kitchen door. Not loudly. The quiet kind, the kind that came out through her nose because Seb had said something ridiculous and she hadn't wanted to give him the satisfaction of a real one.Seb was still holding a mug he'd finished drying two minutes ago. Alec knew because he'd been standing in the corridor that long, letter in hand, telling himself he could give them another minute before he ended it.He couldn't."Sorry," he said. "This can't wait."The laugh dropped out of her face immediately. She looked at the letter before she looked at him."What is it?"He put it on the counter because he did not trust his fingers not to shake when she took it."Ashwood Hollow. They've suspended the winter agreement."Seb set the mug down hard enough that it rattled. "The grain and medicine exchange?""Yes.""Our grandfather signed that. The year after the skirmish that nearly cost us the eastern ridge, when nobody else would risk the road to bring
SebastianThe kitchen was empty except for her, which was unusual enough that he noticed it before he noticed anything else.Myla stood at the counter with a mug of tea going cold in her hands, staring out the window at nothing, the particular stillness she wore when she was thinking about something she hadn't decided how to say yet. Seb had learned to recognise that stillness months ago. It usually meant she was working something out privately before she'd risk it out loud.He leaned against the doorframe and waited a moment before speaking."You've been standing there a while."She glanced at him, and something in her expression softened the way it always did around him, warmth reaching for the surface before anything else could get there first. But underneath it, just for a second, he caught something else. Something careful."Couldn't sleep," she said.That wasn't a lie. He'd have felt it if it was. But it wasn't the whole answer either, and he knew the difference between the two







