Lyra woke to the void's voice on the morning of her seventeenth birthday.
The Deepening is moving, it said. Not toward Ember's Rest. Toward the Glass Sea. It is gathering its strength.
"How long?"
Months. Maybe weeks. It is patient, but it is also afraid.
"The Deepening doesn't feel fear."
It does now. You showed it what hope can do.
Lyra sat up in bed.
"Then we show it again."
---
Kaela waited in the kitchen.
She was forty-seven now, her body healed, her eyes sharp. The void was gone from her, but its mark remained—a faint warmth behind her eyes.
"The void spoke to you?"
"It said the Deepening is gathering at the Glass Sea."
"Then we go there."
"Mom—"
"I'm not a child, Lyra. I'm not a vessel anymore. But I'm still your mother. I'm still a fighter."
Lyra looked at her.
"Ok
