The first week of June, the compound prepares without preparing.
That is the only way I know to describe it, there is no formal preparation, no nursery assembled with ceremony, no announcement beyond what has already organically happened through months of the compound knowing. But the rooms shift their attention slightly. Reth has the medical contacts confirmed and the route to the nearest hospital mapped with three contingency paths depending on weather and time of day, which he completed in April and has been quietly updating since. My mother has the two extra chairs moved from storage to the east wing, near the communal table, not yet at it, but close.
Faye is at the operations table at five every morning still, though Drace has adjusted her training to almost nothing now, just gentle
