Chapter 381: Too Late to Ask
Day 28 opened with both letters still on the table where Kai had left them, unfinished, weighted down against the wind with a stone from the fifth ring's edge.
His pool sat at ninety-five percent. He noted it, then noted the letters instead, which felt like the more honest use of the morning.
The camp had a different rhythm before breakfast, the kind that came from everyone knowing today was a sending day. Fires got built up faster than usual. Nobody lingered over the water line.
The record-keeper boy was already at his ledger when Kai passed, three columns from yesterday closed and a fresh page waiting under them. "Two letters today," he said, more to himself than to Kai. "That's never happened before."
"First time for a lot of things this week," Kai said.
Soren had the Director's reply mostly done by the time Kai reached the fire. He read it aloud once, slowly, watching Kai's face for the parts that landed wrong.
