"We don't have a drum to follow here," Vena says. This is what she'd maintained before Lashan decided to bring him home. He won't want to make things or train the girls to fight, he can't learn magic, so he'll get bored and want money and go.

She gets up herself to see what he's looking at, keeping a good arm's length between them. There's still light in the sky but it's darker in general now. A stockade made from rough wood is visible encircling the compound, and a guard tower with a sentry watching the world outside of it. Within, a small procession is making its way around the wall, singing or chanting in rhythm. Lashan watches them at it, easily identifiable even from a distance with her back turned. A few girls have gathered to take very similar poses as if imitating her.

"They're keeping evil things away. My teacher says most people don't need it but sometimes, girls are cursed, or... something." The Sisterhood takes in a lot of strange outcasts, ghostbait included. Vena is vaguely aware that since she has magic she would be ghostbait out there unprotected. She's not sure she ever saw a ghost even before Lashan found her. Strange, creepy things had happened in the camp in those last few months, right?

All she can really remember is a soldier with a whetstone, sharpening his sword before he could go to bed. The sound had carried in a way she hadn't liked, and... wait. Vena turns to look up at the man. "If you've got a sword to sharpen, will you sleep more?"