Elise did not leave that night, but she packed.
Not physically but emotionally.
I could see it in the way her eyes lingered on things around us: the clearing, the cottage, the pack house lights glowing softly through the trees. She was not saying goodbye, but she was measuring, like she was quietly deciding what parts of this place she might have to carry with her.
Ulath stayed near the treeline while we continued party planning. He never intruded, but he never fully relaxed either. He did not sit, and he did not join in. He simply stood there like a boundary marker with pulse and breath.
“You know he can hear us, right?” I muttered to Elise while we argued about cake flavours.
“Yes,” she replied calmly.
“And?”
“And he says awareness is survival.”
I rolled my eyes. “He says that ab
