Chapter 183 - Tasha

• “I knew it was spring,” he murmurs, his head still hanging as he gets back on track, “because the riverbank was seriously muddy. Like, I kept slipping in it, couldn’t keep my footing, annoying as hell. In winter, it’s frozen solid. In summer, it’s so dry that the dirt…puffs up in the air.”
• He sighs, raising his eyes to mine, and shrugs. And I smile a little, a small part of me really liking the idea that he told the passing of the year by how difficult it was not to slip and fall face-first into a river. But I don’t say anything, just letting him continue.
• “They sent us out, one day, to collect wood, of all things.” His face screws up in confusion. “And you have to understand, Ari, like…we didn’t collect wood – not me and the guys from my barracks. We were warriors at this point – not even in training anymore. Our jobs were to eat, and to…work out, and spar, for lack of better terms. And to keep the barracks clean. I was never given chores outside the barracks like collecting wood – not unless it was an emergency or something.”