Week six arrived with the specific quality of something settling.
Not finished. Not resolved. But settled — the way a house settled after construction, the structure finding its own equilibrium, the small adjustments that happened without announcement.
Eli had extended his sleep intervals.
Not to anything predictable. But longer. Seren had noted this on the third day of week five and had not said anything because noting it aloud felt like the kind of thing that caused the situation to reverse itself out of spite.
Cara had started making a sound he could only describe as conversational.
She made it at the ceiling mostly. Sometimes at the mobile Helena had brought. Once at Caelan's face when he was holding her and talking through his afternoon calls, which she had apparently found sufficiently interesting to respond to.
Caelan had gone quiet mid-sentence.
He and Cara had regarded each other.
"She's listening," he said.
"Yes," Seren said. "She does that."
