The evening air was cool and still. Aria sat on the edge of her bed, unlacing her boots after the day's training. Her muscles ached in the satisfying way they always did now, the burn of progress, of strength slowly building. But tonight, something else stirred beneath the ache. Something she couldn't name.
It had been there for days. A restlessness that hummed just under her skin. A pull toward something she couldn't see. She caught herself staring at the moon more often, tracking its phases without meaning to. It was waxing now, growing fuller each night. And with each passing day, the hum grew louder.
There was a knock on her door. Nyssa didn't wait for an answer. She burst in with two cups of hot tea and a grin that meant she had been waiting all day to talk.
"Move over. We need to
