Cedd was managing the left side of the gate when Beorn arrived. He moved between the militia squad and the three crown soldiers on watch duty with the ease of who had stopped pretending at the role and had started living it.
His left hand still would not close fully. The gate incident had left something damaged in the tendons, and it had not healed yet. The right hand worked, though, and the command in his posture was no longer something he had to force. It was simply there.
He noticed Beorn, adjusted for, and didn't interrupt.
A refugee stream had been moving since dawn. By the time Beorn took position just inside the gate with the ledger open across his forearm, six groups had already come through and three more were waiting.
