I did not sleep. Again. I was beginning to suspect sleep and I had reached some kind of permanent falling out that no one had bothered informing me about, and every night since arriving at this compound had only made the estrangement more official.
I found Mabel at dawn instead, sitting in her usual chair like she had been expecting me at exactly this hour, a fresh pot of something bitter and herbal already steaming on the small table beside her, two cups set out like she had known I would want company before I knew it myself.
Explain the word mate to me, I said, sitting down without being invited to, my voice steadier than I felt. Not the romantic version. The real one, the one nobody's bothered to actually finish explaining before now, not fully.
Mabel studied me for a long moment bef
