Chapter 717: The People Beyond the Bend
"Leave it there. You'll have half the bank in the water."
Leon stopped beside the fresh repair.
The voice came from beyond the bend, followed by a scrape and an irritated sigh. He moved far enough to see between two hanging branches. An older woman stood ankle-deep in the channel, holding a flat stone against her hip. On the bank above her, a young man had both hands around a clump of grass.
"I only meant to clear the edge," the young man said.
"And what's holding the edge together?"
He looked down at the roots. After a moment, he let go.
The woman passed him the stone. Her gray hair was pinned beneath a faded blue scarf, and wet mud covered the knees of her trousers. There was a knife at her belt, a basket on the bank, and nothing about either person to suggest an expedition preparing to move on.
Leon watched her place a smaller stone beneath the one they had been arguing over. The young man steadied it without being told this time.
