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He exhaled again, and felt hi, suddenly weak He turned to steady the heavy load on his back and saw that one of the cabins had its door ajar

It was Max’s cabin Sasha’s home

Wells had only known Sasha for a feeeks, but it felt like years of vividthat short tie She hadn’t just been the Earthborn leader’s daughter--she’d been part of the community’s life force She was the one who’d first volunteered to gather intelligence on the hundred, even though the er She was the first to lend a helping hand, offer a sympathetic shoulder, or voice an unpopular opinion on behalf of the less powerful She was useful, she was valued, she was loved, and now she was gone

Wells dropped his sling, ignoring the clatter of the firewood, and stumbled like a sleepwalker to the doorway He hadn’t been inside the cabin for nearly a rieving Earthborns for as long as possible But now there was no one around, and the cabin was drawing hinet

His eyes searched the di in a table crammed with scraps of electronics, a s quarters… and there, in the back, Sasha’s corner

Her bed, her quilt, a bundle of dried flowers, a drawing of a bird scratched into the wooden wall All still there

"I couldn’t bring ravelly voice behind Wells

He turned to see Max standing a foot away, peering past him with an inscrutable expression His beard was neatly trimmed, his best clothes neatly darned, all ready for his official role at tonight’s festivities But right now he didn’t look like the leader of the Earthborns and a member of the new, united Council He looked like a wounded rief

"She drew that bird when she was five, you know I thought it was pretty good for that age For any age" He let out a little laugh "Maybe in the old world, she could have been an artist"

"She could have been a lot of things," Wells said softly

Max nodded, then pressed a hand against the wall of the cabin for balance, as if so inside of hiht, but before he could htened and walked into the cabin,for Wells to follow

"I prepared a feords to start the feast, but of course, I left theh his makeshift desk for a little scrap of paper cra up fast You et over there"

"It doesn’t " Wells stared at his boots but felt Max’s eyes lingering on him

"You have as much reason to be at that table as anybody, Wells," the older man said His voice was quiet but firether because of you Alive because of you"