---
Thea's chin came up, then steadied. "I will use my teeth if I must," she said.
"You always do," Luna murmured.
The council broke up not because the talking was done but because the day had already decided it would not give them any more time to feel wise. Men and women stood, collected their tools and their nerves, and went to the places they had promised to stand when they said yes to being in this house.
Kai allowed himself one breath alone in the room, not because he needed privacy, but because stones sometimes like to hear a man tell them what he intends to do so they can decide whether to help.
[ Ding! Perimeter note: desert face — new structures present at 3,400 paces: causeway spines, low nets, reed mats salted. Southern arc — drum-cord anchors set. No advance in last 300 counts. ]
"Good," Kai said to the bell. "Let him think about his drums. I will think about his hands."
