The fire was small, Lucius always built them that way. Just enough for warmth, but not too much visibility. An old habit that had slowly become a part of him.
They had to make camp in a shallow depression off the road, two large stones providing natural cover on the north side, the tree line close enough to retreat into if the night produced reasons to retreat.
Valeria had approved the location without saying so, which meant she walked the perimeter twice before sitting down.
They ate in the usual silence. The road had given them eighteen kilometers today, the terrain climbing steadily as the foothills made themselves known in the gradient, and the tiredness in all three of them was the honest kind that came from travelling the distance.
The fire settled into coals, but nobody moved to sleep.
Valeria was the one who broke the silence first.
She was looking at the fire when she spoke, not at him, her voice arriving at its usual unhurried pace. "Why do you hate them so much?"
