Elara and Silas had gone to sleep hours ago.
The base was quiet in the way it became quiet at night, the sounds of four people sharing a space reduced to breathing and the occasional shift of someone turning over.
Due and Alistair sat at the table.
Two cups of tea sat between them, both cold now. The lamp in the middle cast uneven light across the wood, and the shadows it made stretched longer than they should have.
"I keep thinking about what he said," Alistair spoke first.
Due looked at him. "Which part?"
"The warning. Continental scale. Moral clarity becoming a target."
"He's right," said Due without hesitation. "That's the frustrating thing. He's right, and he knows he's right, and he told us he was right to our faces because the honesty costs him nothing and gains him something."
"What does it gain him?"
"It makes us hesitate. Next time we make a decision about expanding beyond the Oasis of Grain, we'll hear his voice. He planted himself in our strategy."
