By the time everyone gathered beneath the common shelter, the last of the daylight had disappeared behind the western ridge. Renn placed a lantern between the five sealed water jars and turned its wick down. Oil was scarce, too.
Nova stood near the open side of the shelter with Lunaris tucked against his chest. The Auri perched on a roof beam, watching the six households assemble. The little girl with the empty cup kept peering from a doorway.
"Before anyone starts arguing," Renn said, "we have enough clean water for tomorrow if everyone takes only what I've measured. After that, we start choosing who goes without. So I'd appreciate it if nobody wasted the evening pretending this is somebody else's problem."
Daren sat down on an overturned crate. "The western rain basin might still be clean. We haven't seen anything reach it."
