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Iryana assigned Pepha and Mezhimar tasks, taking advantage of the help and the excuse to talk about some problems within the ranks. Pepha rattled off all the random gossip from the camp, and Mezhimar shared some of the pranks he’d played on misbehaving soldiers. It felt so normal. She tried to tell if Mezhimar had talked to Pepha, but the same awkward tension lingered between them.

When all the laundry was hanging to dry, Iryana gathered a pile of clean, dry clothes for the other healer house. Between her, Pepha, and Mezhimar, they carried it back. One of the village houses had been set up as a healer’s hut for those whose injuries weren’t as severe, managed by one of the older water-forged healers from the first settlement that had arrived.

Most of the soldiers didn’t react to her presence, but a few eyes followed her. They sat around fires, lounged in their shelters, and ate their rations. Few were even bothering to play games to pass the time.

“It’s rough out there,” Pepha said as they headed back through the ranks of soldiers after dropping off the clean linens. “How much longer do you think we can hold out?”

“We’ll hold as long as we can,” Iryana answered.

“I’ve heard there’s another place we could fall back to, more defensible than this!” called out a large man in a bearskin coat. He must have heard them.

“We have a better setup here,” someone argued back.

“I’ve lost two friends this week alone!” angrily snapped the man with the bear coat.

“Don’t forget most of the guardians are on the wall, not at the front.”

“We’re all taking turns at the front,” Iryana argued weakly, not sure how to calm the soldiers.

“Are we out there dying so that the cozy little villagers, who we’ve already been dying for, can get to safety?” someone asked.

“Don’t we deserve safety?” added another.

Iryana stared at all the eyes now trained on her. They wanted answers. She was so tired of everyone wanting something from her.

“We need to give the Sky Valley more time to evacuate, yes.” Her voice carried loudly over the camp. “But there are also villages in our valleys that haven’t had enough time to make it here. We aren’t leaving anyone behind.”

That seemed to shut them up.

Iryana could have left it at that, should have left it at that, but she added, “And my family didn’t have a choice of who was allowed into the settlement, that wasn’t our call. I’ve lost uncles and aunts, great-uncles and great-aunts, my father, cousins… we’ve been hurting here too. If you want to blame anyone, blame those fucking monsters at our border.”

It was silent for a long while, and Iryana once again wished she had kept her mouth shut.

“I can get behind not leaving anyone behind,” the man in the bear-skin coat finally said. “We’re waiting for Rakoshya’s village, aren’t we? Her girls saved my brother’s life last year when he was sick.”

Others agreed.

Iryana blinked. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“I wish your duchess had a bit of your loyalty,” he added loudly.

“Ah, yes.” Could she publicly speak against the duchess? It didn’t feel wise, but these were the people risking their lives to protect the settlement, as little as the duchess seemed to value them. “Listen, the thing that matters right now is making sure as many of us survive the next few weeks as possible. Your general is a stubborn bastard, and he’s going to do what’s in your best interest. I promise you, as Third of my clan, that we aren’t going to abandon you. Leaving any of you behind would be over my dead body.”

The soldiers looked surprised.

“I heard we were going to be left here to guard your retreat when the clan and the other settlements fall back,” said a pink-cheeked woman, though she sounded more scared than accusatory.

“I’ve heard that rumor too,” Pepha admitted from behind Iryana.

“I don’t know who told you that, but no. Absolutely not.” Iryana was livid now, shouting. “If it comes to it, the injured, the sick, the children—they all retreat first. I don’t care who they belong to: the military, my clan, the duchess, or one of the other settlements. And those of us who can still fight, no matter who we are, will guard the retreat.”

Iryana sucked in a deep breath, almost shaking. “And unless one of the dakii gets to me before then, I will be the last person to abandon this post. Do you understand that, soldiers?”

“Yes, Third!” came a chorus of obedient voices. The man in the coat was the most vocal, and he looked… relieved.

She blinked. Her anger cooled. “Okay, then.”

“I should get back,” Iryana, now feeling extremely awkward, told Pepha and Mezhimar.