Yalda moved out to flag down one of the villagers to go tell Needa that Mikhail wouldn't make it home tonight. There were always children or grown men lingering near their door, eager to run an errand in exchange for a bit of bread or beer.
Her mind whirring, she took the spent grains from Zhila's fermented beer and kneaded it into a large, wooden bowl filled with ground barley, einkorn, and emmer, added a pinch of salt, some water, and then kneaded it to the tune of a song she had made up to honor Ninkasi so it would be rise with the dawn. Covering it with a damp cloth so the precious yeast would not dry out, she went to bed and had fitful dreams about the terrible choice they had made.
*
Come morning, Mikhail was gone as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon. It was Zhila who woke Y
