Alistair was sitting on the wooden step outside the base, watching the grey of the sky thin into evening.
Silas walked past him without saying anything, nodding once.
Following that, Silas headed for the territory's edge, where Elara had been sitting for almost an hour without moving.
He didn't sit beside her. He sat near her, not in her space, far enough that her Favor had room to rest, and close enough that she'd know he was there.
Alistair had begun to notice this distance over the past weeks. It was a nearness Silas used only with Elara.
'He's careful with her,' Alistair thought. 'More than I'd noticed at first.'
The sun was low. The settlements out across the Oasis of Grain were beginning to show the pattern of cookfires Alistair had been training himself to read.
Seeing her quiet, Silas didn't speak for a while.
Eventually, he said, "Elara."
"Yes."
"What do you want?"
Alistair raised a brow, listening from the step. That wasn't a question Silas usually asked.
