Sheila moved through the practical necessities as if she had been carrying them behind her eyes since arrival. Chris's group: twenty-three. Her own combined group: eighteen from the eastern approach. The gate students with Asher: four. Additional students who had reached the outer southern area shortly before Sheila and were being held by Chris's lookouts: eleven. Kara on the wall. Asher at the gate. Liam inside scouting.
The exact count settled at fifty-eight students present or immediately accounted for at the southern perimeter.
More than half the year.
The number visibly weighed on Sheila, though only for a moment. Fifty-eight students, several injured, many tired, with Veyrhold only partially secured and the rest of the year still scattered through Eldervale. The walls were not yet shelter. The gate was not yet command. But it was the first place where enough students had gathered for the assessment to become what it was meant to test.
Structure.
