"Tactical hydration."
"Tactical hyd—he left you water, Mel.” Her nose scrunches. “I will throw up on you."
"I am aware of the risk."
She sorts petals. I crush. The clearing wakes up around us. Footsteps. The clang of someone at the forge. Keer Jr. screaming at the dawn from across the territory because the sun had the audacity to rise without his permission. Nugget chirps from inside my dwelling.
I should feed her. After this batch.
"Was he careful with you."
I think about it. His hands on my face.
"Yeah." Quieter. "He was careful."
She nods, approving.
"Good."
Dara joins us mid-morning. Doesn't look at the tooth. Doesn't look at my shoulder. Sets down her satchel and crushes.
Maren arrives. Reaches for the oil.
"If you pour that"—I don't look up—"I will end you."
"It's a drizzle."
"Your drizzles are pours. There is a meaningful difference between a drizzle and a pour, Maren. I've told you this. Multiple times. In increasingly specific language."
"How much, then?"
I hold up my hand. Pinch my thumb and forefinger almost together. "This much. Watch me do it first."
Movement at the tree line.
Four figures. Staggering. Catching each other, one bent double, the other three barely upright.
Coughing. Wet and deep. Not throat—lungs. The rattling carries across the clearing and my stomach drops.
I'm on my feet, running.
Keer is already ahead—everyone's ahead, wolves converging—and the coughing is getting worse, getting thicker—
Keer Jr. starts screaming from across the clearing. Not his usual rage at the sun—higher. Thinner. Even the rooster knows.
Brennan goes down. Not a stumble. His knees just quit. The other three catch him but they're barely standing themselves, all four gray-faced—not pale, gray, ashen—and their eyes streaming and the blood coming up is gray-tinged.
My hands are on the youngest one—Tarek—before I fully stop running. Tilting his chin. Checking his pupils. Constricted. Wrong.
"What did you breathe?" Fingers on his pulse. "Tell me what happened."
"Smoke—" Gasping. Choking between words. "They threw—couldn't see—"
He doubles over. Gray blood hits the ground.
Moonbright. Airborne. They weaponized moonbright as smoke.
The rumors.
