Nine minutes should not have felt like punishment.
By the time Wren crossed the open section between the main wing and the communal kitchen, the wind had found every gap in her coat and the folded assignment in her pocket had softened at the creases. She had completed the first crossing before sunrise, another after breakfast, and two more before noon. The route was short enough to look reasonable on paper and long enough for winter to turn repetition into damage.
The order required her to maintain the main-wing supply log while remaining responsible for her kitchen rotation. Every phrase was legal and designed to make Wren’s body carry what the document refused to name.
Staff shortage. Temporary cross-wing coverage. Operational necessity.
The provision existed for emergencies and genu
