Nerissa had barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Zane's face at the stave church, the pure joy of explaining something beautiful. Then she saw him on the phone through the wall, stressed, worried. Then she saw Vance by the fire, his voice low: "I'm asking you not to throw him a rope."

She woke before dawn and lay still, listening. Through the thin cabin walls, she heard Zane moving. Papers shuffling. A frustrated sigh. Then the creak of a chair as he sat down to work.

He's already started, she thought. He doesn't even know what he's up against.

The morning meeting was in the lodge's...