Three refugee families still needed a place to sleep before their cottages were ready.
The grain barn had to stay dry. Mera proposed using the adjoining hall, where the medicine stores could be moved into a locked cabinet. A local family objected that the hall was also where they held winter ceremonies. The ceremony chest stood against the far wall, covered by a woven cloth.
Ning asked which dates mattered and whether the sleeping mats could be folded away each morning. The family said the room could be shared if the chest remained untouched and the floor was swept before a gathering.
“Who keeps the key?” one refugee father asked.
“The hall keeper,” Mera said. “The families have access to the room, but the ceremony chest is not part of the bedding space.”
The father did not want to accept a room where he could not move furniture. “I’m not trying to take the chest. I want to know whether we can move a mat if it blocks the door.”
The hall keeper explained that the chest held objects used during the winter ceremony. It had been in the same place for three generations. The family did not want strangers lifting it or setting bags on it. The refugee father said he understood, but worried the room would be locked when his daughter needed to reach the washroom. Ning asked the keeper to show them the key arrangement. The door would remain open during the night, and the keeper would…
