Chapter 374: What It Costs
Day 21 started with both camps at the ring before either fire had finished heating water. Nobody had needed to call the meeting. Word had moved on its own overnight, the way it always did at Zone Ten now. One tent heard it from another, until the whole standoff was awake at once, and no one had sent a message.
Kai's pool sat at ninety-two percent, full from the night's recovery. He noted the number and said nothing about it.
The two camps had never stood this close together without a purpose splitting them. This morning the purpose was shared, and it showed in small ways. Edra's people left room at the fire for Soren's kettle. The boy passed his second ledger to one of the instrument-readers without being asked.
