THE COST OF PROTECTION
It happened on the ninth day of the war.
A border engagement,not the largest we had managed in those nine days, not the most complex. A coordinated push on the western trail, three Ashvale wolves testing the rebuilt patrol pattern. Roger went with the response team because the western trail was the most vulnerable point in the boundary and he did not send people to vulnerable points without going himself.
I stayed at the main house.
This was an agreement we had made, not without argument, not without the specific tension of two people who wanted to be in the same place and understood why they could not always be. My training was not complete. My combat instinct was developing but not ready for field engagement. Staying and managing the house communications was th
