As a group, we filed out, down the creaky wooden stairs, past the lower level where tinkers with heavier gear that wouldn’t make it up wooden stairs were working, and into the cold evening. Kenzie was still pulling on her winter jacket as she stepped outside, and I gave her a hand, tugging the collar behind her neck up into place.

“I missed your name,” I heard Vista.

“Natalie. Team lawyer.”

“Natalie, yes. I remember the team lawyer thing. You were there when we consigned some prisoners to the prison world.”

“I was.”

“Thanks for backing these guys up. They’re some of my favorite people.”

“I can’t do much,” Natalie said. “Most of my expertise is legal.”

“You never know,” Vista said. “I was talking to Golem, a teammate of mine. He was there when Gold Morning kicked off. It was a person without powers who stopped Jack.”

“I remember reading about that,” I said.

“Didn’t stop Gold Morning,” Rain said.

“No,” Vista said. “But everyone has a role to fill. Even just the fact that you’re here, and you’re clear-minded, and hopefully not freaking out too badly…?”

“Not too badly,” Natalie said, her voice dry.

“That matters,” Vista said.

“I hope so. I just thought… I was going to lose my mind, sitting in a sea of white tents with other evacuees, listening to the hum of the heater, and waiting to see if the world ended,” Natalie said. “If I’m here, maybe I’m useless, but… that’s not the worst thing in the world. There’s space, I don’t eat a lot.”

“I was in one of those seas of white tents a couple of hours ago,” Vista said. “I wouldn’t want to while away the hours in there either.”

We reached the crossroads just a bit down the path from the workshop. We stopped.

“I’m going,” Sveta said. “Taking a portal to the Wardens’ headquarters, getting scanned. I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be with Vista,” Byron said. “But we’ll stay where you can find us. Probably by the fire.”

I nodded. “Is Tattletale around?”

“She’ll be with the thinkers at the headquarters,” Sveta said. “Brainstorming. I was thinking, um, it wouldn’t be a bad move if Lookout got some sleep.”

“An early bedtime,” Kenzie said, in as displeased a tone as I’d ever heard from her, that wasn’t outright shouting.

“A nap, before what might be another long night,” Sveta told Kenzie. She looked at me. “Maybe you too.”

“I have stuff I can do.”

“You’re hurt, you’re healing, and a little bit of rest goes a long, long way.”

I frowned.

“Clear your mind,” Sveta told me.

“I kind of don’t want my mind to be clear. All the clutter and avoidant thinking is really helping, to be honest.”

“That’s a really, really good sign you need to rest,” she said.

“Seconded,” Natalie said, quiet.