January came to Blackwood territory.The sixth year.The cold settled in the way it always did. The hall warm. The community in the buildings. The work continuing with the steadiness of something that had been going long enough to no longer require effort to sustain. It sustained itself.The fire tending itself.Nana left for her home territory on a Tuesday morning in the second week.She packed one bag.I noticed. Did not say anything about it until she came downstairs and I was at the kitchen table and she put the bag by the door and looked at me."One bag," I said.She looked at it."Yes," she said. "I noticed.""Is that intentional," I said.She thought about it."No," she said. "It is just what fit." She paused. "Everything essential fits in one bag." She paused. "You taught me that."I looked at her."I did not teach you that," I said. "You arrived that way.""No," she said. "I arrived with nothing because I had nothing to bring. That is different from choosing one bag because e
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