Perhaps Virve could sense the gloom hanging over Ashlynn when she delivered her report. Perhaps that was why, as soon as she mentioned that there had been losses, she quickly mentioned that there had also been a unique success. But Ashlynn was unwilling to indulge herself in the opportunity to ignore pain by searching for joy.
"Start with the losses," she said as she swallowed heavily, wishing that her stomach would unknot itself and the feeling of impending dread would go back to whatever hole it had crawled out from. "How bad was it?"
