Mira found Eli at the shelter’s rear entrance, where he had been told to sit while Sera collected the updated search roster.
She did not ask whether he was alone. A volunteer was checking the emergency lamps a few paces away. Through the open doorway came the scrape of tables being moved for another treatment space. Whatever she said here could become somebody else’s account before she had chosen its first sentence.
“I need a room,” she said.
“You can ask the desk.”
“With you.”
Eli looked at her jacket, at the place where she had kept the timer key. She had given the current control information to the response station. The key itself was now held through their documented handover, not rattling in her pocket as a private final answer.
“About Nara?” he asked.
Mira nodded.
