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“Pyetar?”

He looked up at her, exhaustion clear on his features. “I just came to check in.”

“I can give you the report.” She finished her climb down to the snow-packed ground.

Pyetar nodded, and they walked along the main road of the village, running parallel to the small, frozen stream. Iryana repeated all the details she’d been told, Pyetar listening closely.

“I think my clan is starting to understand how much the fort kept the dakii off us,” she told him. Her clan members weren’t ready to admit it, but she could see it on their faces.

Pyetar sighed. “Or they’re realizing how we brought the dakii with us, how much safer you all were before we retreated.”

He wasn’t wrong, but Iryana still argued, “We’re stronger together.” And she meant it.

She looked over the sea of tents and hastily built shelters, gaze lingering on her clan’s house, far larger than anything else in the valley.

“Are you alright?” Pyetar watched her in that too-observant way. “Is it your magic again?”

She sighed, shaking her head. There was no point in hiding it from him. “My sister has been using the poppy on terminal patients.”

“Iri...” Pyetar’s hand flexed, like he wanted to reach out to her but stopped himself.

“I just don’t understand how she can use it after what it did to our family.”

Pyetar was quiet, his voice soft, when he answered. “She has a different perspective than you, I suppose. You see what it did to your father. She sees people dying that she is powerless to help. I’ve walked through the healer’s huts in our camp, watched the water-forged healers and doctors trying to save who they can. People torn open, insides spilling out, limbs missing. The poppy is the only thing she can give them to relieve their suffering.”

Iryana was quiet, considering. Trying to imagine it from her sister’s perspective. She understood, but the thought of accepting that the poppy was good in some situations was heart-wrenchingly painful.

“Perhaps you’re right,” she finally admitted, shoulders dropping. Her eyes trailed over the muddied snow where countless boots had tracked along the road.

She wanted the past to stay there. For the hurt to be behind them. It made her feel weak when it still controlled her like this.

“Oh,” Pyetar said. “I’ve been told someone from one of the earth settlement groups wants to meet with you.”

She sighed with exhaustion. “Send them to the main house, like all the others. The clan has a process for this.”

“That’s what I said, but apparently, she refused. Wants you, specifically, to come to her.” He sighed. “Doesn’t seem to trust the clan. I don’t know.”

“If she wants to talk to me, she can come to the house. I barely have time to eat, let alone track down some woman in the camps.” Perhaps it was selfish of her, but she was already pulled too thin as it was.

“I’ll make sure the message is passed along.”

“Thank you. It’s been a lot with—”

A soldier stepped into their path, forcing them to stop.

Iryana looked up to find Shahn, jaw tight and eyes downcast.

“What do you want?” Pyetar barked.

Shahn swallowed, slowly looking up. “I want to help defend the post. I want you to let me fight again.”

Iryana frowned.

“How could I trust you not to turn on us again?” Pyetar demanded, arms crossed.

“Karvek was already suspicious that something was going on, and he knew I’d tell him to protect my sister.” Shahn’s usual uncaring tone was gone, replaced with a desperate plea. “You know that’s the only reason I joined the 18th—to protect her. I see how many soldiers we’re losing, and I want to help keep that wall standing. I want to protect her. Let me fight to protect her—it’s the only thing I can do for her.”

Iryana knew Karvek had been a manipulator; he had twisted her so easily without even knowing what motivated her. It would have been simple for him to catch Shahn in his web.