“Hello, everyone,” I began, quietly at first, then gaining volume along with my confidence. “It’s good to have you here. Some of you may know that Kit and I are about to be gone fora while tending to my family’s farm, so we wanted to make sure there was a plan in place for things to continue in our absence.”
I revisited the communication measures we’d put in place, including the code meant to be used at Rosie’s bakery stand that always made me giggle. Any customer who ordered a “pumpernickel pie” was to be given a written missive providing details about our plans for the future of Ashpoint and an invitation to join our cause.
Along with the new additions here with us, I expected more when Kit and I returned from Eastcliff, so that part of the meeting was mostly encouragement to continue speaking with friends and neighbors and spreading the word.
I was detailing our strategy, getting to the part where Kit would take over for Merrick, which both pleased and petrified me, when one of the new attendees piped up.
“If you become Shroud Warden, Levitt still outranks you.” The statement of fact came from a balding man I’d seen running a stall in the town square. He sold furs and hides stripped from the animals he caught in the woods below the encampment in the foothills.
Despite that I had been speaking, his attention and inquiry was clearly meant for Kit as he carried on. “How will you protect us if he sees this as rebellion? As betrayal? What if he calls for our heads?”
I glanced over at Kit, sharing a bit of the concern myself. For as much as we had discussed this plan, there were still so many unanswered questions. Outcomes I hadn’t considered or would rather not.
Kit shook his head, sweeping dark curls across his forehead. “I don't expect that to happen. Levitt is a reasonable man?—”
“Can he bereasonablydispatched?” the fur trader countered. “Are you willing to take his place if it becomes necessary?”
The thought of Kit unseating Levitt, giving his hand to the Vessel and his fealty even more fully to the cult made my stomach wrench, as did the idea of what would be required to make any of that happen.
“Dispatched?” I repeated. “You mean kill him?”
“I won’t kill him,” Kit cut in. His hand crept around to squeeze my side. “If it comes to that, he can be jailed.”
“And executed?” the fur trader pressed.
I winced.
I hadn’t expected this to be clean. Or maybe Ihad. I assumed the people of Ashpoint could be reasoned with, and when they realized the truth about Eeus and Paneus and what community truly meant, they would gladly change. Some opposition was inevitable, especially from my cad of a half-brother, but I wasn’t ready to start marching people to the gallows.
Others in the room seemed to share my unease, and murmured conversations began to break out. It was chaotic enough that Kit had to nearly shout to restore order.
“It’s not my intention foranyoneto die!” he called over the noise. “Not by our hands.” He looked over at me, and I cupped my hand over where his rested on my hip. The tension in his features eased before he faced the crowd again.
“Penny and I came to this place intending to destroy it, but I see now that it's the only home many of you have.” He paused and glanced around at the gathered families. “Itiscommunity. Or it can be.”
In the corner of the room, Thoma and Rosie nodded along, and Kit drew a steeling breath.
“So, I think it might be better to establish Ashpoint as a township,” he continued. “That means we need to make connections outside the walls.Legitimateones. The city needs to be able to sustain itself without robbing other towns of their resources. We’ll need our own.”
Of course I hadn’t forgotten stripping the mission in Wendwood of their supplies. The hospitality of Margot and Elise was like a slap in the face knowing what we’d done and what it would cost them and their neighbors. I may not have been able to make it up to them, but I could prevent the same from happening to other folk.
“I can help with that,” I said, earning a quizzical look from Kit. “You brought me here because of my farm, right?”
I hadn’t meant it as an accusation, but it struck Kit all the same. His cheeks paled, and I rushed to explain.
“I pledged it to Ashpoint, and I would gladly honor that to sustain the people here after the Bone Men are gone.”
“You're sure Pen?” Kit asked.
He still looked a bit sick, either from guilt or from remembering the state of my family property when he saw it last. After my father’s death, things had fallen into disrepair and fields had gone fallow. It seemed a stretch to think of us providing enough crops to sustain a town. More than a stretch. An impossibility.
Even still, I nodded. I would give whatever I could. “And there are other farms in Eastcliff that could help, as well.”
“A township, then?” Rosie’s mother called across the cramped room. “How are we to be recognized without involving the militia?”
Again, I deferred to Kit, trusting him to have the answers to questions I hadn’t even considered.
It came as a relief that he did. “Involving the militia is the first step,” he replied in a measured tone.
