After a while, Stella’s group also returned, and with their footsteps now dusted by the late afternoon came the mingled scent of chicken feathers and sweat drifting through the no-longer-urgent breeze.
Stella didn’t come to a full stop as she laid down the two wild chickens onto the area that had been cleared earlier. Her eyes passed briefly over Ethan, then moved on, as if that glance didn’t need to linger to affirm any merit. She walked to the far side of the fire ring, slow but unburdened, like someone who had fulfilled a duty rather than one seeking validation.
Kaela arrived a few steps later. She didn’t speak, but the way she sat, slowly, yet without hesitation, carried more clarity than any explanation could. Her hands undid the vines tying the chickens as if each knot mirrored one
