Damn, I’m tired….

The initial waves of refugees have been taken care of, and good numbers have gone to live with their sept clans, when they were known. Not many were left in Erebus that became the Belfire clan in Steelhead, considering Zcernoboch’s children left en masse after the schism, but there were some who had no clan affiliation. We do tend to collect strays, and the crèche teachers are overjoyed to have new stories to trade. We will have to see how well they assimilate, Great-Uncle Nico is worried the egalitarian society might not sit well with some of the nobility.

I have not been able to find a place to rest since the incident. I gave up my dormitory space to my roommate’s distant cousins, thinking I could kip at the Station in Harborside. However, the place has been really noisy since Uncle Augustus got back, and Auntie Kitla is renting out her spare rooms to the Baron’s clone-brother. Wolfgang managed to find space with them, as did the rest of the boys in the school, and the Jaegers have secured some of the oddest bivouacs until the barracks are finished.

I headed to the boathouse, as the swearing from the building platform told me the lab would also be a bad idea. I found it deserted, as Uncle is out wandering again, and there was a thick layer of dust in Ash’s room. I’ll offer to help him clean it when he gets back, and set up a generator battery array, but until then, I decided to make use of the settee.

Consanguinity

Novem was a good idea to regroup, and take stock. While Gematria and Qli compared notes, I managed to send a note home to Grandmamma. It was the only way to get the news to Great-Uncle Nico without this becoming official, but I needed more ammo. We were waiting for – something, I did not know exactly what, but there was the tug of an approaching family member. The battle fatigue had masked the shock enough that it took me some moments to realize why I felt so unsettled.

The others knew immediately - the Founder had fallen. I’m a little dense sometimes, but by the time Koen arrived, I caught on to the next step. Before they had even figured out I was in the line, I knew I could not take the burden. I don’t even have the stability to shift to a human form yet – altered or not. There was no way I could provide the anchor against what was coming.

Koen left for Steelhead distracting the others just in time for the box of supplies to appear at my elbow. Aunt Sis turned just in time to see the 30.06 and the second box of rounds to appear. She didn’t say anything as I packed the speed loaders with Blessed Lead, Cold Iron, Blessed Salt and Wood Trine rounds, and secured the rest of the gear.

When everything was in the proper places, she asked in a sardonic undertone, “What, no Blessed Silver?”

I shrugged, “Some of the family have not held silver in the past three years. But that is a tale for the deep winter freeze-up, if…” I stopped and said more firmly, “WHEN we get there.”