Thom greeted the dawn alone, standing outside their shelters with his sketchbook tucked under his arm, watching the sun rise. Even sore, even as worn out as he was from the events of the day before, he’d found himself unable to sleep past the first light of dawn. Marin was still sleeping in their bed, tucked safely in their blankets, breathing deep and even. He’d felt safe enough to leave her alone after testing her for fever and a quick glance at her stitched-up wounds.
They’ll be fine, he reminded himself again as he stood in the snow and watched the sky turn red with the dawn. They’re fine—or they will be after she’s slept off yesterday. It’s Phelan that should be worrying us.
He smiled humorlessly to himself. Why should that surprise me at all? The smile faded after a moment as he watched the red of the sky grow deeper as the sun continued its rise. There wouldn’t be time this morning to repair any wards that had been broken or for Matt to work on anything up at the forge, or for work to continue on the rooftops and the walls. A storm was coming and it would be there before most of the camp was awake.
His lips thinned. So much for a quiet day of getting work done. He glanced down at his sketchbook and sighed. There was so much he wanted to do, so much he wanted them to be able to accomplish. If trouble kept coming in waves, that was never going to happen.
It’s got to stop sometime.
“Thom? What’re you doing out here?”
He turned toward the sound of Kellin’s voice and smiled weakly. “Watching the sun come up. I was going to walk the perimeter before anyone got up, but seeing that sky makes me think it’s a better idea not to.”
She followed his gaze and winced. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I agree. It’ll be another day of taking stock of what we have and making things that we can trade when spring comes.”
Thom blinked, glancing at her. “Trade? With who?”
Kellin smiled faintly. “We’re not the only ones who lived, Thom. We knew that already. While our last encounter with people from outside this community wasn’t exactly positive, there must be some other settlements out there that are more interested in trading than raiding. Once the weather breaks in the spring, I think that some of us will need to venture out, hit the road, see what’s out there.”
“Who?” Thom asked without thinking, still staring at her. “Kel, who could we spare for that?”
She met his gaze with a weak, faint smile. “We’d figure it out. I could go, maybe with Greg and Brandon, one or two others. We’d manage on the road and you’d manage here without us.”
Thom’s lips thinned. “I’m not sure I like that idea,” he admitted quietly.
Kellin smiled and patted his arm. “It’s a good thing that you don’t make all the decisions around here, then. You can’t say that we won’t need some kind of allies and trade from areas north and south of here—that another settlement won’t be able to produce things that we can’t produce on our own.”
“We can produce a lot of things on our own,” Thom said stubbornly.
“But not everything,” Kellin said, her tone gentle. She squeezed his arm. “This is going to happen, Thom. Whether you want it to or not, we need this. We’ll find a way to make it all work.”
“Right,” he murmured softly, gaze returning to the sky. An uncomfortable flutter went through his stomach—nerves, he supposed, or something else.
Intuition? Maybe. He frowned to himself.
Whether he liked it or not, Kellin was right. They needed allies, if only so they knew where it would be safe to run to if things got bad, if they were overrun.
He winced. Pray that day never comes.
Kellin squeezed his arm gently. “I’m going to put some hot water on,” she said softly. “Come to the fire when you’re ready.”
“I will,” he murmured. “I will soon enough.”
She nodded and left him there alone.
