SERA
The days after my father's funeral blurred in a haze of training and grief. I threw myself into preparation, pushing my body until exhaustion forced me to stop thinking, to stop feeling the hollow ache in my chest where he used to be.
Lila stayed close, both of us surrounding each other like planets, finding comfort in shared silence. We didn't talk much about him, what was there to say? He'd chosen peace over life, chosen my mother over us and while I understood it, the abandonment still hurt.
A week passed before Thorne's message arrived.
I was in the training grounds when Marcus met me with a letter in his hand. "From Thorne," he said, "a messenger just left it at the gate."
I opened it and read quickly, my blood heating up with every word.
Elder Clearwater is assembling arou
