Theme: complicity — Status: unfolding
Asha Pradhan has been treating two foundry workers for what she is almost certain is the grey cough, dosing them from her dwindling antibiotic reserve and keeping them on light shifts under the cover of a sprained wrist and a bad back. Halden Yu suspects something is wrong with his crew but will not ask, because asking would mean knowing, and knowing would mean stopping the lattice work before solstice. Yusra Idemudia has noticed Asha reorganizing the supply shelves for the fourth time this year and has begun, gently, to visit the infirmary at odd hours. Whichever of the three breaks first will decide whether the beacon fires on time, late, or into a quarantined town.