He didn't know when. He didn't know with how many men. But the survey sat on his table next to Apprentice's letter. And those two small things together told him everything he needed about the timeline. Apprentice had the survey.
Apprentice had the legal authority. Apprentice had the patience of a man who had learned that the right moment was worth waiting for. And the right moment was coming soon because the probability that two Apache women had survived a Wyoming storm without help was low enough that the help itself was suspicious. and a suspicious homesteader was a loose thread. Aldis apprentice did not leave loose threads.
Gideon got up before the dark lifted. He built the fire low, buried the smoke. He varied it every morning now, and the small satisfaction of disrupting the predictability was real. Even when it felt like a minor rebellion against a very large problem, he stood at the north window with his coffee and looked at the ridge. still too still.
He was still looking when he heard Desa behind him. You feel it too? She said, "Yes, today. Maybe or tomorrow, " he looked at the treeine. "He's done with patience.
" Waiting is costing him more now than moving. Desa came to stand beside him. She was wrapped in the spare blanket, her braids loose from sleep, still the two braids, but soft now. The tight daytime version relaxed into something more like the original shape of them. The turquoise beads at her collar, caught the pre-dawn gray, and held it a different color.
Amma needs two more weeks to travel safely, she said. I know. We don't have 2 weeks. No, they stood in the dark cabin with their coffee and the weight of a problem that had more variables than solutions. Then Desa said, "We send the letters today.
" He looked at her with who? There's a man settlement south of the timber. I saw him when we were moving north. He was hauling supply to Cheyenne. Churikawa know him.
He's moved things for our people before. Carefully. His name Burell. Ezra Burell. He drives south every 10 days.
He should be leaving soon. You trust him? My elder trusted him. A pause. That's not nothing.
Gideon looked at the ridge. This was the moment. The one where you decided whether to keep holding the thing yourself or put it in motion and accept you couldn't control where it landed. He hated this moment he always had. Norah had been better at it.