Chapter 5
DecisionThe five friends stayed and worked with the Walchin. Asphodel decided to work as a healer and Basalt worked in the mines. The other three worked outside.
They did their outdoor tasks during the day, unlike the Walchin, and so often found themselves the only ones in the bowl. When no other Walchin could see them, Thadora gratefully removed the all-enveloping robes and worked in her breeches and shirt.
The weather felt fine and warm, even so high in the mountains, and all three revelled in the sunshine, watching the birds and animals in the bowl. Thadora picked some of the multitude of flowers blooming there and took them to decorate the tables in the House of Virgins.
She tried to persuade the men to take some for their House too, but Grimmaldo told her he did not thi
