The valley they descended into was louder than the highlands.
Not with alarm just life layered on life. Water ran fast over stone. Insects stitched the air with sound. Somewhere out of sight, metal rang in a steady rhythm against metal, someone shaping something meant to last.
Aurelia slowed without meaning to.
Noise like this used to mean complication. Density. Too many variables to track.
Now it just meant people.
Kane noticed her expression. “Overwhelming?”
She shook her head. “Alive.”
They reached the settlement by following the sound of the hammering. A forge stood near the riverbank, open-sided, heat bending the air above it. A woman with soot-darkened hands worked the bellows while a younger man struck glowing metal with focused patience.
No guard stopped them.
No one asked
