---
The wind carried his voice for him.
"Listen," Kai said from the high lip, one hand on the spear, the other open at his side. "We stood. We held. We won."
"The men who led this hurt are done. The line that wanted to take our home is dust. We will not chase dust. We will drink. We will bind. We will make use of the hands that chose sense when pride ran out of them."
He looked to the drones who had fought their first fight and came back alive.
"You did what no brood has ever done: you were born recently and you held in the same breath as experienced soldiers. You will sleep in shifts. You will learn more. You will not forget the pair to your left and right. You live because you listened and moved together. That is how we keep our home safe."
