Chapter 25: Four Conversations the Team Has Never Had

The provisions turned out to be a crate of something approximating dried fruit, two sealed tins of what Jax identified as protein paste from galactic-standard emergency rations, a bottle of Varenthal pressed-starlight spirits that Lira had been carrying since Chapter One and had not mentioned, and a block of something Desta had retrieved from her pack that nobody asked about and everyone ate.

They ate standing, mostly, the way people eat when sitting down feels like a commitment they haven't agreed to make.

Then, gradually, without anyone deciding it, the Seam Station sorted them.