The morning sun felt wrong.
Too bright. Too cheerful.
Like the world hadn't just been torn apart by dark magic and death.
I stood at Mara's grave, if you could call it that.
A simple stone marker in the camp's makeshift memorial garden.
Nobody to bury. She'd died in the medical facility, and by the time we'd returned to collect the fallen, there'd been nothing left but ash and rubble.
So we'd built this. A place to remember.
The marker read simply: "Mara - Teacher, Protector, Friend."
I'd carved it myself. My hands had shaken the entire time.
"You taught me everything," I whispered, placing a Moonbane amulet on the cold stone.
One I'd made specifically for her, though she'd never wear it now.
"How to fight. How to survive. How to be brave when I wanted to give up."
My throat
