When Nova returned to the common shelter the following morning, Renn was standing over a pair of damp leather water skins. The two residents sent to the eastern seep had come back the previous evening, exhausted and carrying less than everyone had hoped.
"That's all it gave us," one of them said. "We waited until the second skin filled. The flow never improved."
Renn lifted each skin and tested the stitching. "It's clean enough to drink, and that's what matters. Get some food before you fall over."
Daren stood nearby, looking down at the dry beds behind his house. The leaves beneath the woven mats had begun to curl. He removed one mat, examined the soil, and put it back without saying anything.
"How much time does that buy us?" Nova asked Renn.
"Another morning if we measure it carefully. Perhaps part of an afternoon." She glanced at his bandaged palm. "And don't tell me the western shutter is fixed. Sela already explained that it isn't."
