The first ceasefire watch began on day 1097 with a man refusing to leave a good wall until his relief arrived.
Iven waited beside him.
The wall overlooked the western gun approach he had climbed fifteen days earlier. The guard had a signed withdrawal order, a packed bedroll and a hot meal waiting below. He also had a clear view of the unoccupied path. Until someone accepted that view as a duty, leaving would make the order a hole in the defense.
Cenn’s relief arrived seven minutes late, carrying the correct position sheet and an apology that did not ask the first man to pretend the gap had not happened.
They walked the post together.
Iven showed the broken stone below the climb. The outgoing guard showed a second approach the map had missed, narrow enough for one person and wide enough to matter. The incoming pair checked their warning line and the route to the nearest shelter. Then the first guard picked up his bedroll and went down to his meal.
That was how the quiet began here.
Elsewhere, people were still answering questions.
