Bullet took over pacing when Rose left. She was uneasy in her skin. As one of the founders of the resistance camp, she felt responsible. Years ago, at the height of the hysteria, she’d traveled across the border from her Menominee community before the schools had started opening. Back then, she knew only that she had to get to family, and that meant finding her partner in southern Ontario. She had arrived too late to save Olivia, but she had stayed once border crossing became impossible, and by then she had found others who were building a place of safety. It was empowering to have a plan and likeminded people to carry it out. Now she felt diminished. Not quite weak, but less than she should be. Once Miigwans and his small group had been welcomed into the camp, they’d become her responsibility. It was one of the most important teachings, that they all looked out for one another without hierarchy, without question. And now one of them was gone. It had been hard enough to lose an Elder after the failed rescue mission, let alone one who carried an Indigenous language in a time when so much was lost or in danger. But now a youth? It was almost too much.

She sighed. “Gonna do another perimeter check, then grab some supplies and recheck where we last saw him.” She turned into the trees, leaving just Miigwans and Isaac at the fire.

The men sat quietly for several minutes, watching the embers, holding on to one another in this small, damp clearing. It was the first time they had been alone since the night before, since Frenchie had brought them back together. The group Isaac was travelling with had set off an alarm, and French set out with the scouts sent to find them. He was the one who had recognized Isaac’s tattoo from Miigwans’s stories. He was the one who had run back to tell Miig that his love wasn’t dead after all, that he was right here. And any reunion in this time was a miracle for all of them. If Isaac was alive, anyone could still be alive, could still be out there breathing, searching.

“How long since you got free? How long have you been out here now?” Miig needed to know more, needed to get caught up on the time since he’d last seen his husband being dragged out of a Recruiter van and into a school while he sat, zip-tied and frantic, under guard in the cargo section until it was his turn to be “enrolled.”

“A few weeks, maybe. Hard to say.”

“Time is different now, eh?”

“I’m not sure it exists anymore.” Isaac sighed, dipping his head to fit on his partner’s shoulder. “But we exist. At least there’s that.”

Miigwans turned his face to the side, and Isaac lifted his head to meet his gaze. “Do we?”

“Yeah, baby. We do. And we’re together. And I’m going to take whatever minutes we have to be grateful for them.”