Lorna watched the shadow Gareth cast in the moonlight as they crept back onto the farm. Their last recruiting mission had taken longer than expected, and now she tried to move deftly through the orchard, worried about waking the women sleeping in the tents nearby. There seemed to be more and more of the canopied dwellings sprawling across the farmland, and Lorna smiled. She and Gareth had accomplished a fair amount in their short time here.
"Nim must still be up," Gareth whispered, and in the darkness, Lorna could make out his armored sleeve pointing to the farmhouse.
Indeed, all the windows were alight, Lorna could see now as they neared the building. Several covered carts stood empty outside the farmhouse, and it dawned on her that the women of the conventicle, Ovandale's governing body, had arrived on the Great Root Farm.
