Eight blades were on the table, their inlaid ruby hilts gleaming in the dying flickers of candlelight.

Umma, the only other person still left in the kitchen at this hour save for me, bustled past, a flour-dusted apron slung around her waist. “Stop dawdling and set those away.” She pointed sharply at the knives. “There’s still much to do before bed.”

I snapped back into gear, reaching for the silverware and a stack of burlap cloth. I grabbed the first knife by its hilt and made quick work of wrapping it before packing it neatly into the cupboard. “How are the morning preparations coming along?”

Umma settled beside me, grabbing a knife and cloth of her own, her fingers nimbly wrapping. “The dough is rising nicely. Although, I suppose we’ve got to get through tonight first.”

I clicked my tongue in dismissal. “You know nothing that’s going on out there–” I gestured with the tip of a knife in the general direction of the window, foggy and condensed from the heat of the kitchen “–affects us in here.”

Umma gave me a disapproving look. “If it happens in our land, it affects us.”

I rolled my shoulders, setting the last of the knives away before turning to her. “We’re perfectly safe. The governor’s house is the strongest fortress in all of Serila. It hasn’t been breached in twenty years.”

Umma did not look convinced. “Nevertheless, I’d prefer we take the usual steps to safeguard ourselves. Do you have the salt?”

I nodded, reaching beneath the table to grab the bag of supplies I had packed earlier that day.

Umma pulled her apron over her head, surveyed the floury mess staining its front and placed it in the laundry basket, amidst the other aprons and dish towels. She gave one last cursory look around the kitchen, inspecting the locked windows and the hearth, which only housed cinders. Leaning down so the strands of her graying hair nearly kissed the guttering flames of the sole candle burning on the table, she blew it out. The room was instantly plunged into darkness. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the moonlit room.