Boy and Dog
- Corban Farmer is fancy-pants. Why? He's got glass windows when everyone else only has wood or hide. He's also got a tough time with Acton's dog, Jinn.
- The two are out and about one day when Corban sees Jinn eyeing his sheep. Worried that Jinn will scare them off, he shoots and hits Jinn with an arrow.
- Corban defends himself against the hails and hollers—he did warn them to keep their dog off his yard and stuff.
- Acton can't believe someone would just kill his dog, so he throws gravel at Corban and yells "killer" at him. Yep, he's subtle. Corban just turns and walks away.
- Later on, Acton tells his buddies about the dog killing incident, and one offers to smash Corban's windows in, but Acton knows it won't do any good.
- Acton won't leave Corban's property—he wants to stay with Jinn—but eventually one of Corban's helpers tells Acton to scram… or else.
- Still, Acton plays a ghost at Corban's place, following him around and watching his every move. Why doesn't he go home? There's nothing there. Everyone's dead or gone, and it would just make him feel lonely.
- Isla Caross comes up to Acton. She knows he loved his dog a lot, and he thinks she is always kind to him and never angry, which he likes.
- Suddenly everyone starts giving Acton food and cider, which works out well since he's super hungry.
- He yells out to Corban to tell him sorry for killing Jinn, but there's no answer.
- When Corban's guy wakes Acton up with insults, he spits at Acton to seal the deal.
- Someone else comes over to Acton and reminds him that his dog was going after Corban's stock, so he has a right to protect them.
- A couple days later, Acton is still waiting for his apology from Corban, but we've got a feeling he'll be waiting a long time for this one.
- Smash. Acton hears the sound of glass breaking, and then Farrow comes over to him, taking the credit for ruining Corban's fancy pants windows.
- The next morning, Acton sees Corban picking up glass and feels uneasy. He remembers when his dad didn't come home from the war, and the only guy that did was Cam.
- Even then, Isla's family helped him cope. They brought him food and helped him learn to live again.
- This whole dog business has people on edge. People are divided: some think Corban had the right to shoot whatever was going after his livelihood, but others think killing an animal is going too far. How dare he.
- Finally Corban goes to Acton and makes him a proposition. This fight has gone on long enough, so how about Acton comes and lives with Corban? He noticed the other day that Acton's just been outside for a couple days, so he mustn't want to go home.
- Acton thinks about it for a minute and then gets annoyed. How will that solve anything?
- Still, later that night, Acton finds himself making his way back over to Corban's. If not for this darn war, neither of them would be alone, so maybe they can bond over that.
- He's not sure why, but he goes to Corban's place.