NEVA POV
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First light in Ashveil looked like a dare.
Grey and flat, the sun not yet committed, the town in that specific state of early morning where it hadn't decided yet what kind of day it was going to be. I stood at the back door of Rust & Rye with my second coffee of the morning and looked at it.
The east building was a silhouette. The training yard inside it was dark and quiet.
I had gotten, by my count, approximately three hours of sleep. My body had opinions about this. I told my body we were having a conversation about compromise and it did not respond favorably.
I heard them gathering — the crew, from their various positions around the compound and the adjacent buildings, moving toward the diner with the particular quiet of people who were up before they needed to be bec
