Aria’s POV
The ridge didn’t change overnight.
That’s what surprised people. They expected thunder, or the ground to shift, or the air to taste different. Instead, it was just… quieter.
The kind of quiet you get after a long argument ends and everyone’s too tired to fight anymore.
Day one, the ward-nodes held steady. Coren and Tav checked all four before dawn. No spikes, no surges. Just the low hum we’d come to recognize as the Warden breathing easy.
Day two, the first pups asked about it.
Lyra found three of them at the quarry edge, staring down into the dark with wide eyes.
“What’s down there?” the smallest asked.
“The Warden,” Lyra said. “Our neighbor.”
“Does it bite?”
“Not if we keep our word,” Lyra said. “And we keep our word.”
She brought them back up bef
