They sat with Caldren's ultimatum with something already decided but still needing to be said out loud.
The four of them around the table.
In the middle lay the document Alistair had written from memory, Viridius's words, recorded the evening before. Due had read it twice, and was now staring at the wall above Elara's head with the look of someone doing math that had no comfortable answer.
"The options," said Due, adjusting his collar. "There are two."
He paused, then continued. "Relocate outside the Oasis of Grain. Survivable, but we lose territory, and we lose Frument's alliance, and we lose the civilian relationships we've built across twelve settlements over the past four months. We start over somewhere else."
"And the second?" asked Silas.
"Stay. And face whatever Caldren considers proportional to what we've done to him."
