The clan meeting house was half-full.
Varek stood at the head of the room and did not let himself count the gaps. He knew them already and had counted them in the dark three nights running. But standing here, in front of the faces that remained, he kept his eyes level and his expression unreadable. That was the work of leadership. Letting nothing sho on your face that you did not put there yourself.
"Winter will be early this year." He kept his voice even. "The elders have said it, and the animals are already moving south ahead of schedule. We begin rationing stores by the next new moon."
A murmur moved through the room. The sound his people made was as though they were receiving difficult news and deciding quietly how they felt about it.
He laid it out plainly. Each household would dr
