John's patience was fraying at the edges. Every second spent debating was a second of precious rest lost in vain. Before anyone could dive in and waste more minutes on the kind of useless guesses he was growing tired of, he cut through the tension with a voice like a whip.
"Didn't you see them? They have no eyes!" he snapped, his voice echoing in the sudden chill. "They rely on sound to locate us. In total quietness, without the noise source I destroyed, they can't find us. We're as safe as we're ever going to be."
As if to put an immediate end to their useless debate, he turned away and began a fortification. He moved across the sanctuary, placing pairs of cores at the gaps between the trees and even along the inner borders of their territory. In mere half an hour, with the others silently following his lead as the warmth began to radiate, the entire sanctuary was lit up in a brilliant, flickering amber. The cold was pushed back, replaced by heat.
