Lyra found Aelara at the back door of the house with her hands around a cup of something hot, watching the hills.
She had developed this habit in the three weeks at Duskfall the early morning watch, before the settlement came awake and the day started requiring things of her. It was not strategic, exactly. She was not looking for anything specific. It was more like something her body had learned to need: a period where she could look at the space around them and assess it without anyone else's needs running through the assessment.
Lyra stood beside her and did the same thing.
After a moment she said: "There was someone on the west ridge yesterday morning. Me and Caelum both felt him."
Aelara went still. "Felt."
"He was watching," Lyra said. "We saw him see us. Not with our eyes with the other thing." She pressed her fingers to her sternum. "He was trained to be still. He was very good at it. But he was afraid when I looked at the right place."
