Chapter 95

Aria's POV

Kira started school on a Wednesday in early autumn.

Not the Shadow Peak alliance school — she was still a year away from that. But a small structured learning group that Margaret had quietly organized with two other households in the settlement, for children in the gap between too young for formal school and ready for more than home learning could offer.

Three children. A corner of Margaret's kitchen twice a week. Simple materials, straightforward tasks, the kind of learning environment that succeeded by not trying too hard.

Kira had been told about it three days before it started. She'd received the information with the studied...