The outpost woke slower these days.
Gad stood near the well at first light, watching defenders who used to sleep in shifts now sleeping in full stretches, watching guards who used to man the walls in tense silence now leaning on the barricades trading jokes instead of watching the horizon for smoke. It should have felt like relief. Mostly it did.
"You're up early," Rennick said, crossing the courtyard with a bucket in each hand.
"Couldn't sleep."
"Still checking for it," Rennick said. Not a question.
"Habit," Gad admitted. "It's hard to stop listening to something after it's been the loudest thing in your chest for months."
Rennick set the buckets down, studying him. "You look lost."
"I feel lost." Gad hadn't meant to say it that plainly, but the words came anyway. "Everyone here ha
