When Radeon and the Ironbuck miners split, some people stayed behind.
Radeon smiled when he saw it. He had expected it. Fear drove most men to cling to the familiar, but hunger for a future despite the unknowns.
With one glance he counted them, at least over a thousand, families and stragglers and quiet workers who had never spoken loud in meetings.
He knew who they were. Minority families, lower in status than Biscuit, Crust, Challah, and the other eighteen. Competent enough.
They had simply learned to keep their heads down and watch from the edges, waiting for a moment that did not punish them for moving.
Biscuit and Crust saw the split and scoffed. To them it looked like a foolish choice, people thinking too much of a cultivator they barely understood.
Challah did not go either. She knew Radeon had seen her fate and had not openly invited her, which meant she would prosper elsewhere.
