Juneau’s father seems to be in charge, but he barely needs to do anything. You can tell these people have been preparing for emergencies their whole lives. The children are awakened, dressed, and out of the huts within minutes. There are about a dozen of them, and it seems that one parent has been chosen from each family to accompany their kids, bringing the number of people meeting Tallie up to seventeen. For some reason, in my head, it was women and children who would be going with Tallie. But there are more men going with the children than women, and I wonder if Juneau’s group was able to move past the typical male/female family roles along with the rest of society’s “ills.” A tall girl with blond hair pulled back into a braid walks up to me, looking like a female Viking: suntanned and bold and outdoorsy. She has the same fearless aura that Juneau has, and I know who she is before she even opens her mouth. “Nome?” I ask. She smiles broadly and hands me a wet cloth. “Kenai said you might want to wash your face.”
