Aria’s POV
Ridah didn’t call a meeting. She just left her cup on the table and walked to the ridge edge.
That was enough. We followed.
For ten years “follow Ridah” meant formation, blades, orders. Today it meant seven people walking behind her because we wanted to know what she was looking at.
She stopped where the ridge drops into the valley. The valley we never went into. Too exposed. Too far from the wards. Too much Debt.
Today it was just… green. Morning fog in the low places. A river catching light. Trees we’d only seen from above, trying to kill us.
“First choice,” Ridah said. Not loud. “Do we stay, or do we go?”
Silence. Not tense. Heavy. Like a real question.
Tav picked up a stone, threw it. It tumbled down, bounced, disappeared. “Stayed ten years because we had to,”
