I don’t miss how he peers over my shoulder, trying to get a glimpse beyond Powder Town’s wall. Clay may not be the brightest, but even he knows that this new arrangement is odd. “Just keep your head down,” I tell him. “Keep doing what you’re doing. It will all be right in time.”

When Powder Town is due to deliver its first batch of powder since my return, the Prime sets out with her convoy, modified rifles and bows at the ready, goggles and scarves in place. I watch them roll out toward the boardwalks, wondering if I will see them again. What if a dust storm hits while they travel? What if they don’t make it back? Will the Reaper rise to the position of Prime in that case? Will she still want to attack Bedrock? But my worry is needless because the Prime returns a few days later, her wagons loaded up with iron and water.

The days blur together, but the questions from citizens never fade. I am plagued by crowds that ask me when it will end—this silent storm that drags on. I give cryptic, poetic answers, the way I imagine a god would. Some townsfolk whisper when they see me. Others turn away, as if my eyes might set them aflame. Children run to me in the streets and tug at my sleeves, muttering praise, asking for blessings. By the time two moons have passed, I’m exhausted by the act. I don’t know how much longer I can keep it up. Certainly not until midsummer.

“You’ll do what you have to,” Asher says after listening to another bout of my complaining. “You always have.”

We’re sitting on the roof of Prime Hall. We started meeting here a few days after Reed left for Bedrock, and we haven’t stopped since. The streets are too crowded with townsfolk always shadowing me, and Cleo’s isn’t private enough to talk freely. Or to . . . not talk either.

But here on the roof, with only the stars for company, we can steal a few moments together. Between his work in the saltpeter beds and my time spent on wind wagon construction, these opportunities are few and precious.

Tonight there is no aurora—no ribbons or curtain of light. Just a quiet sky filled with stars. It’s a small break in the string of storms, just as the documentation at Eden had described. It’s happened only once since the active phase began and lasted only a day and a half. The Prime was off delivering another supply of powder to Bedrock, and the Reaper used the opportunity to run all her soldiers through training with the mag-rifles. Asher and I joined in target practice, relishing the sound of the weapons as they fired, operable in the tiny break between storms.