He found me on the roof.
Not the compound's main roof — the lower one, the flat section above the east gallery that had access through a hatch Gamma Reese had shown me on the compound tour, that was technically accessible to anyone but in practice was where you went when you needed the sky and the compound simultaneously. I had found it on a clear afternoon when the four peaks had been visible from the ridge and had understood, standing on that hatch's edge, that the compound had its own view worth returning to.
Darius came up through the hatch and found me sitting on the flat section with my back against the low wall and my face turned up.
He looked at the sky.
He looked at me.
He sat beside me.
"Aldis is settled," he said.
"I know. I felt it through the pack bond." She had been re
