Pam stepped into the colder stretch of corridor, colder even than her own end of the workers' wing. She reached Tam's door and let herself in without bothering to knock twice. She had done the same thing every morning since the citadel decided her sister deserved rooms of her own instead of another bed among the rest of the staff.
She had never gotten a real explanation for that change. Better pay, better rooms, none of it was supposed to concern her. Every question she'd asked during those first weeks had earned some answer about important work, with nothing concrete behind it.
After a while she'd stopped asking. Pressing only made Tam quicker to lie, and someone who lied quickly was much harder to watch than someone honest enough to hesitate.
The little timer lay on its side across the floorboards, its bell long since wound down without waking anyone. Tam herself had vanished beneath a tangle of blankets, one bare foot hanging over the edge of the bed.
