Dinner was simple and warm and exactly what the evening needed it to be.
Fay had kept rice and a thick broth with root vegetables and some kind of cured meat that Ray had apparently sourced from the settlement market two days ago, and she served it without fuss or ceremony, just placing it in front of Neil and stepping back with the satisfied expression of someone who has done a thing correctly and does not need to be told so.
Neil ate without rushing.
Ileana sat beside him and ate her own portion with the quiet ease of someone comfortable in the shared silence, occasionally saying something small about the day, about how Magnar had knocked over the water trough in the morning while doing something that Bob described as running in his sleep.
About how Leon had reorganised the patrol rotation to cover the eastern perimeter more thoroughly after noticing a pattern in where the overnight vibrations were coming from.
