"She just walked. And you rearranged everything around keeping her alive while she worked." He glances at me.
My back straightens.
"She was right, though. Bear would've died."
"I know."
"That bother you?"
"What bothers me is she didn't stop."
He's quiet for a few steps, then, low: "Yeah. That's the scary part."
We walk without talking for a while. The trail narrows through a stand of birch and widens again.
"The trap." I keep my voice down. "That's close."
"Closer than the last ones. By a mile, at least."
"Have Rhen take two wolves and sweep the perimeter around camp. Anything staked within a half day's walk, I want to know about it."
Axan nods. No argument. Humans set traps, we find them, we pull them. But not this deep. Not this close to camp.
Ahead of us, Melori laughs at something Kestria says. The sound carries back through the trees.
We walk back.
Chapter 9
The water dispute starts before dawn.
Hella and Bren's mother are both at my door, voices overlapping. I'm not even dressed yet.
"She moved the stone." Bren's mother has her arms folded.
"I didn't move the stone. The rain moved the stone."
"Rain doesn't move stones."
"It does if the bank erodes."
"The bank didn't erode! You dug it out."
I stand in my doorway. Wait for them to notice I haven't spoken.
They don't.
"Enough."
They stop. Eyes dropping. Shoulders lowering.
"Show me."
I follow them to the stream in unlaced boots and yesterday's trousers.
The marker stone hasn't moved.
The bank has eroded.
