Ayla's POV
The quiet was the first thing I noticed.
A different kind of quiet—not the held-breath kind that came before something unpleasant, but the soft, muffled kind that meant the world had decided to pause for a moment and rest.
I pulled myself upright and looked out the window.
Snow.
Everything buried under it — the trees, the ground, the packhouse roof, the training field in the distance. Heavy drifts hung from branches, softening every angle, rounding every sharp edge. Even the light looked different, filtered through cloud and white, gentler than it had any right to be.
No cars. No birdsong. No distant voices from the training field.
Tala stirred lazily. "We're not going anywhere today."
The relief that moved through my chest at those words was immediate and real. No schoo
