Aspen’s POV
Everything here was so clean!
The people on the streets smiled as Mother, Jack, Warren, Aira, Elsa, Blanche, and I walked amongst them. Mother greeted everyone by name, and should she happen to forget a name, Aira would lean in her ear and tell her.
Our first stop of the day was an orphanage. I expected sparse toys and scraggly children, as I’d seen for years in Ember Moon, but as we entered, I saw only happy faces, clean clothes, and more toys than I think even my former cousins had in their youth.
Nurses cared for the children, rocking babies, feeding toddlers, reading to other children. There was coloring and paints and decoupage. Poorly yet lovingly manufactured yarn creations adorned many corners, and there was no shortage of staff or supplies. Certainly no shortage of
