The open application process for the Bond Welfare Advisor position opened in the first week of December.
Elowen had been part of designing the application structure and had consequently spent considerable time thinking about what the position required, which meant thinking about herself and whether she was the right person for it with the kind of honest assessment she brought to everything. She had come to a conclusion in November that she had not shared with anyone except Alaric, on one evening over tea when she had wanted to hear herself say it aloud before she committed to it as a decision.
"I'm going to apply," she had told him.
He had been quiet for a moment. Not with surprise. With the quality of someone absorbing something they had known was coming and were taking the time to rec
