At noon on Day forty the yard had a trough, a gate, a grey post in the far corner, and a guardroom step with a chipped edge. It had a north wall with a name chalked on it that nobody had yet been made to wash off. The rain had faded the letters to grey, but Tobin could still name them: Duke, Iron, Yard.
Tobin named them all, one at a time, while he waited by the trough. He did not count the people. Counting people was a thing that made him hold still in the wrong way, and he did not want to hold still in the wrong way today.
Dorran stood at the gate. His bandaged hand was against his chest, and his other hand was flat on the wall behind him.
Kade leaned on the north wall with his arms folded and his chin up.
Liss stood beside Ysra. Hesper had come out of the kitchen with her spoon still in her hand, and she looked at it as if she had forgotten why she was holding it. Nell stood a little apart from the rest, on the line where she had stood for the test, and she did not look at the post.
