Chapter 158: Finally, a Woman Who Wanted to Talk Business

Dove wrote the first line, then the second when Thorne asked her to keep going. He took the pen back before the end and signed his own name. The letter asked for word, gave the existing carrier route, and said what mattered without trying to fit all the lost time onto one page.

She did not read it again after he folded it. She put the folded letter beside his cup, where he could find it when the carrier came.

They slept close that night. Thorne woke once, and she felt him reach for her before he realized she was already there. She put her hand over his and stayed quiet until his breathing settled. Edrik moved nearer from her other side, making room rather than asking what was wrong.

By morning, Thorne looked tired but less stunned. Dove brought out pond water and washed in the little bathroom, made sure everyone ate breakfast, and checked that the letter was ready when the familiar carrier called for a pickup. The man agreed to ask along his route. He promised to carry the question, not manufacture an answer.

Sprout had settled the previous day’s work lights and exercise at 1,439 normal coins and fifty-two Favor. Dove let the totals stay in the ledger. She had wanted the system quiet yesterday, and it had managed the surprisingly difficult task of letting a person matter more than a notification.

She chose household supplies, and reusable meal containers filled the vending cabinet. She was checking a sample when a car stopped outside the shop and an adult white-mink woman climbed out with her brown-bear husband.

The woman was neatly dressed, her pale hair pinned back from a pleasant face. Her husband’s gaze caught on Dove for a moment before he remembered his manners and opened the door for his own wife. The woman noticed, gave him a look that suggested he could explain himself later, and came to the counter.

"I’m Iris. I organize food deliveries for households in Base A. Are you the merchant who recovered the pump?"

"Unfortunately, yes. If this involves another pump, I’m about to remember a pressing appointment."

Iris smiled. "Food carriers. Considerably less wet."

She set her bag on the counter only after asking. Dove noticed the small courtesy. After so many visitors who treated her space as something they could reach across, a woman waiting for an answer made the conversation easier before any offer had been made.

Dove pushed her cup aside. Iris pulled a chair close without reaching for Dove’s things. Apparently they could have a conversation without anyone grabbing something first.

Iris had run catering before the freeze and now coordinated meals between buildings in the base’s inner district. She had six mates, apparently all with opinions about the right way to carry a pot, but none could repair ruined insulation by arguing with it. Her husband remained beside the entrance while she explained the problem herself.

Edrik came from the rear room carrying Dove’s coffee. He set it where she could reach it, brushed his thumb briefly along her wrist, and acknowledged Iris with a polite nod. The expression he gave another woman had none of the private trouble he saved for his wife.

"You can stop looking pleased about the coffee," Dove told him under her breath.

"You’re holding it with both hands. I know when I’ve done well."

He stepped aside before she could answer, leaving her warmed and annoyed at how easily he managed both.

The food carriers Iris needed were large insulated boxes for whole trays. Dove showed her the daily meal containers and asked whether those could help with individual portions, while making clear they were not the same thing.

Iris bought some for her household and explained that the larger equipment might be at a lakeside hotel. She knew it had hosted events before the fall. She did not know who occupied it now, which doors were accessible, or whether any of the kitchen goods remained.

Dove asked Sprout to record the lead with Iris as the source. Could it confirm the hotel inventory?

"Not from an unverified report."

"Excellent. We both get to remain disappointed until somebody looks."

Iris waited while Dove wrote down the actual questions. How many carriers? Who would pay? Who claimed the goods now? Was she being asked to buy them, recover abandoned stock, or take somebody else’s kitchen because a better district wanted it?

The mink woman watched her for a moment, then pulled a folded order from her bag. "You should ask those questions at the purchasing office too. Some of the men there hear a woman say she’ll consider something and write down that she’s agreed."

"That’s a dangerous hearing problem."

"I keep telling them."

Dove smiled despite herself. She did not need Iris to become a best friend before enjoying a conversation with a woman who understood the irritation.

Thorne came to the counter when Dove asked whether they could inspect the examples later that morning. His face was composed again, but she did not make him perform cheerful interest. She touched his hand beneath the counter and let him answer in his own time.

He asked about transport and the visitor rules. Iris offered a ride in her car and confirmed she could arrange entry for all three to the office. Visiting Base A did not give them housing there or change their Base B rental.

"Good," Dove said. "I just negotiated for my bed. I’d like to keep knowing where it is."

After Iris left to arrange their visitor entry, the cabinet released meal-container packs for the trades Dove had approved while Thorne checked their bag. When the shop quieted, she asked whether he wanted to stay home for the visit. He shook his head.

"I want to go with you. Sitting here won’t make an answer arrive faster."

She squeezed his hand and accepted that without deciding she knew his grief better than he did.

While they waited for Iris to return with the car, Edrik read the proposed order beside her. Thorne sat close enough that their knees touched. The first page sounded reasonable. Four usable carriers, subject to inspection, with payment still to be agreed.

The second page claimed first choice of everything recovered from the hotel’s kitchen.

Dove set her cup down and read the sentence twice. She had been invited to discuss four boxes. Someone had quietly decided that meant buying the whole trip.