Se connecterEzra found me carrying two bowls upstairs.He looked at them.Then at me.“Did you steal dinner?”“No.”His eyebrows lifted.“I borrowed dinner.”“From whom?”“The kitchen.”“That is usually called taking.”“They knew.”“Did they?”I kept walking.Ezra followed me.
By midday, the south wing had doors again.Not all of them.Three still leaned against the corridor wall waiting for hinges, and someone had painted a large red cross over the room where the ceiling was still unsafe. But twelve rooms had been cleared.Nine had beds.Seven had families waiting.Vivian stood in the middle of the corridor with a key ring in one hand and three lists in the other.“You’re smiling,” I said.“I am not.”“You are.”“I have keys.”“That is apparently very exciting.”“It is when people have been sleeping on floors.”Fair.Workers moved around us carrying folded blankets, small tables and whatever furniture had survived the attack. The air smelled of sawdust and fresh plaster instead of smoke.Maren came through the open doorway behind us, hair tied back and sleeves rolled to her forearms.Her eyes moved over the repaired wall, the windows and the stack of bedding near room four.“How many are moving in?”“Seven households today,” Vivian said. “More tomorrow if
The old stable office still smelled faintly of leather.Vivian noticed the shelves before I noticed the dust.“Those are not organised.”I looked at the rows of books along the wall.“They look organised.”“They’re arranged by size.”“That counts.”“No.”I let her have it.The transport duty books occupied the bottom shelf. Vivian checked the dates while I pulled out anything covering the week before the attack.The third ledger gave u
The first thing I noticed was the bread.Not because there was more of it.Because nobody was arguing over it.The morning line outside the kitchens still reached into the corridor, but it moved. Wolves collected their allocations, stepped aside and made room for the next family instead of waiting to hear there might not be enough.A woman I recognised from the infirmary passed me carrying two wrapped loaves and a small sack against her hip.Her son followed with another sack clutched in both arms. It was clearly too heavy for him, but he looked so pleased with himself that his mother let him keep carrying it.Hesper appeared in the kitchen doorway.“They counted the families today.”“The ones eating at the infirmary?”“All of them.”I watched the boy shuffle after his mother.Yesterday, those families had not existed on the request unless someone was injured.Today they had breakfast.Ilvane stirred beneath my skin, warm and quiet.Vivian found me still standing there.“You’re starin
Ezra’s POVBy midday, I had four people waiting outside the council room and six pieces of paper in front of me that apparently required the Alpha’s decision.I had read three.I understood two.The sixth appeared to concern roof tiles.I looked at Ronan.“Why am I deciding roof tiles?”He took the page.“You’re not.”“It says Alpha approval.”“That is because the old process says anything above the second expenditure threshold needs it.”
Maren found me in the western stores before breakfast.I was standing between two half-empty shelving rows with a stock sheet in one hand and absolutely no idea what I was looking at.She stopped beside me.“You look concerned.”“I’m counting flour.”“That explains it.”I looked at her.She almost smiled.Almost.Darius had been gone three days.Sometimes I forgot for several minutes.Then something small happened.Maren turned towards a doorway expecting him to appear.A chair stayed empty.And the whole pack remembered again.I looked back at the page.“Ronan said supplies were moved before the fires.”“Yes.”“Ezra is tracing the authorisations.”“And you?”“Hesper says the infirmary needs more food.”Maren waited.I frowned at her.“What?”“Nothing.”“You’re doing the thing.”“What thing?”“The thing where you wait until I realise there is something you could have told me immediately.”Her mouth moved.“It is an effective teaching method.”“It is irritating.”“So is leadership.”I







