*Greenwood Territory — Dusk*
Clouds rolled low in the sky, casting long shadows across the sacred trees and beneath those branches, warriors moved.
Not with fear, but with readiness.
Crystal stood at the center of the clearing, the Flame quiet within her but alive. Her body remembered the Mirror, the Gate, the pain of the past that was not her own. But she stood taller now and firmer.
She no longer felt like a girl holding back a storm. She was the storm.
Ryder hadn’t moved far from her side since her return from the Deepgroves. He watched her in stillness, but she could feel his thoughts. Sharp, bracing and loyal.
Nearby, Luca and Thalia stood over a newly drawn map scratched into the dirt. Greenwood scouts marked known passageways and weak points.
The warriors of the Starblood p
