"I know," Corva said. "But it means the finishing isn't as complete as I let myself believe an hour ago." She looked at the compound. "There's more work."
"There's always more work," I said. "That's not a failure. That's just what protecting something worth protecting actually looks like."
She was quiet for a moment.
"You sound like Elara," she said. "That's exactly the kind of thing she used to say. There's always more work, so we might as well enjoy doing it."
I held that.
"I'll take that as a compliment," I said.
"It is one," Corva said. "The highest one I have."
---
Two days later, Daven found something.
He brought it to the round table with the specific urgency of a man whose thirty years of patient searching had just paid off faster than expected.
"The phrase," he said. "Ma
