Three followers began packing in the guest hall the next morning. Their bags lay open on the floor, with folded clothes, wrapped cooking tools and the red handouts set aside from their belongings. One of them, Pera, had already returned his fee and spent the previous day talking with Lata about a safer training plan.
A man named Aru folded a blanket and pushed it into his travel bag. “I came because the stories said Yan found a path anyone could share.”
Pera, who planned to attend Lata’s class, helped him tie the bag. “Does the refuge expect you to stay now that the claims have been corrected?”
Ning entered with the updated transport list. “No. Each person can choose where to live and whether to study. The settlement does not require you to stay because you attended a class or came to the clinic.”
Aru looked toward the assembly room. “I still like Yan. I just thought his strength meant there might be a way for the rest of us to do the same.”
“The account explains what happened to him,” Ning said. “It does not ask you to believe it or stay.”
One follower said she would miss the market and the open training yard. She had come to White Orchard with her sister, who planned to stay and work in the mill shed. The two had discussed whether to part ways before the harvest. The sister wanted to remain; the follower wanted to return to her home…
