The compound celebrated the hundredth day of knowing Rowan's name the way it celebrated most things — without announcement, with food.
This was my doing, though I had not intended it as a milestone. I had simply woken and felt the warmth below my ribs particularly present, particularly alive, and had gone to the kitchen and begun making things, and by midmorning the compound had understood from the bond's register that something was being made and had organized itself accordingly.
By noon the main kitchen had seven people in it.
Kira at the secondary range making something with her practiced efficiency. Luna sitting on the counter offering opinions that were mostly unsolicited and occasionally useful. Aldis reading a perimeter report at the island, eating with one hand, annotating with
