Nobody pushed him.
They sat around Ainen's fire and waited. The Emperor sat with his hands on his knees. The Sovereign of Voidmere held her shawl closed at the throat. Big D had the book open on his lap and the pen in his hand, but he did not write anything.
John sat on his stone and looked at the fire for a long time.
"She was the oldest of us," he said at last.
Lily was sitting beside Almond. She did not move.
"There were a few of us who climbed together, back then. I told you that." John turned his hands over. "She was the one who kept us going. She carried the bag with the bread in it. She made us eat when we didn't want to."
Ainen looked up from the pot.
"She was the one who said that," John went on. "Every time we came to a door, or a gate, or a crossing. 'Go quickly. Before they take what you carried.'"
"Who was going to take it?" Almond asked.
"Lots of people, back then." John's mouth moved, not quite a smile.
