"It didn't happen all at once," Bayu said, sitting wrapped in his blanket near the cold remains of a cook fire that Surya had ordered relit for his sake alone. "That's the thing nobody back at the capital will understand from a report. It happened slowly enough that for the first week, we told ourselves it was nothing."
He wrapped both hands around a fresh cup of tea Sekar had pressed on him, more for the warmth of holding something than any real thirst, and stared into it while he gathered the thread of his account. Rama sat across from him, close enough to seem present without crowding, and let the silence stretch as long as the man needed before he spoke again.
