The four of them sat at the table that night with the lamps low and the door bolted, since the question they were about to ask was the kind that did not survive an open door.
Due asked it first. He had been quiet for two days, ever since the verdict mark had been found at the eastern edge of their territory.
"What does Sun Harvest do," asked Due, "when an enemy faction announces its approach by leaving a verdict mark on the ground of our own territory?"
Nobody answered him at once.
They had circled the question for forty-eight hours already, however, never together. Alistair had wanted each of them to come at it separately, so each answer would arrive without bleeding into the others. Three answers, then his.
Elara went first, since Elara was always the one to go first when first was the difficult position.
