Elias POV
Just then, Tillie, the supervisor from the fields broke through the line of warriors. She wasn't cheering. She was hysterical, her hands clawing at the air.
"My grandson!" she wailed as she went from person to person, her voice piercing the celebratory atmosphere.
"He's not here! I can't find him. no one has seen him."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Then, a small, trembling voice spoke from the back of the crowd.
The laborers parted to reveal Lena. She wouldn't raise her eyes to meet ours; instead, she stood there, her knuckles white as she twisted the fabric of her grey skirts into knots.
"I saw him," Lena whispered, then gathered her courage. "I saw Tillie's grandson run deep into the fields... right before the first Irin appeared."
"Why didn't you say anything then?" Tillie lunged, grabbing Lena's blouse and shaking her with the strength of a woman who had lost everything.
