I did not want to leave the hunt today. We finally have a real lead—a Violence we have captured who was assigned to Asoharith’s command. It took some time, but we finally persuaded it to tell us what it knew about Asoharith’s plans. As a result, we now know where Asoharith will be in a week’s time, and we will be ready. But Asoharith is canny, and she has led me into traps before, so we continue to search. I…
I do not have time or patience to tell the whole story. All the time that I have wasted on writing, on friendship, on rest, has resulted in the death of one of our own. A few days ago, I was accompanying Freya home after work. She was laughing about something, but I can no longer remember about what. I only remember the way that laugh cut off the moment she stepped into the house. We both knew that something…
It has been good to see Freya’s energy returning. She went to visit her mother this weekend—I think mostly to reassure Esther that she is well again—and spent the time helping around the house, cleaning and tidying and fetching flowers to put in the windows. It was a happy, peaceful time for her, and it helped that her sense of taste has finally returned, which gave her an opportunity to tease her mother (“I can honestly say, Ma, for the…