The first time I took Rowan to the river, Darius came with us.
This was not the northern river — Rowan was too new for the walk to the northern boundary, the distance too much for the compound's current careful rhythm. This was the tributary, the small one, the one that ran along the eastern edge of the property and had held more of the compound's important conversations than any other space.
The morning was clear.
The specific clear of a compound morning that had decided what it was and was being it fully — cool air, particular light, the pack bond at its rising register as the territory woke to its day.
I carried Rowan.
Not in the elaborate carrier Gamma Reese had produced on the second week with the specific efficiency of someone who had anticipated the need — just in my arms, the
