The fracture didn’t announce itself loudly.
It never did.
It crept in through tone, through glances that lingered a second too long, through questions that sounded harmless but weren’t. By the third day after the ambush, the mountain pack had returned to movement, but the rhythm was off. The silence between orders felt strained, brittle, like ice that had been walked on too many times.
I noticed it first during patrol assignments.
Sera stood at the center of the courtyard, issuing instructions with her usual precision. Names were called. Routes assigned. Wolves moved without argument
Until mine.
“Elara,” she said. “You’ll take the eastern ridge. Varek with you.”
A pause followed. Brief. Almost imperceptible.
Then a voice cut through.
“She shouldn’t be leading patrols yet.”
The sp
