The compound reorganized itself around Rowan with the efficiency of a community that had been preparing for a long time and was now simply living in the preparation.
Not dramatically. Not with ceremony. In the way that real things reorganized — incrementally, through the daily choosing, through the accumulated small decisions of people who had decided something mattered and were acting accordingly.
By the end of the first month, the rhythm had settled.
Kira came every morning. The assessment was brief and thorough, and afterward she stayed — not for professional reasons, the professional reasons had been met, but because she had a grandchild and the compound had a kitchen and Rowan was developing a specific preference for the sound of Kira's voice that everyone pretended not to notice a
