(Kaelen)
I start at dawn.
That's the rule I've made for myself — not the pack's rule, not Theron's rule, mine. Every morning before the house is fully awake, before coffee and correspondence and the particular weight of knowing war is coming, I'm in the training yard. Shoulder healed enough to move, not healed enough to ignore, which means I have to be smarter about it. Adapt. Find the angles that don't compromise the joint.
Sora said I didn't have to. Theron said nothing, which is how I know he wants me to.
The yard in the early morning has a quality I've come to need — cold air, gray light, the sound of my own breath. No performance required. Just the work.
I've been working.
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By the third week, I can feel the difference.
Not just in the shoulder — in everything. The way my fe
