They stayed two full days in Twin Pines. The settlement needed the reassurance of ordinary time, and the party needed the same. Ysara walked the high pastures with Gossen and Branna, teaching them the signs of a remnant loop and the simplest spoken refusals. Tallen and Nima compared maps until the long-house table disappeared under paper. Sela produced a clean inked version of the amphitheater spiral that Branna immediately had copied onto a slate marker at the settlement’s eastern edge. Cal updated the official rankings to include “Leftover Echo – Evicted” and “Mountain Hospitality – Excellent.”
Lira spent the hours testing the lattice. The three known pressures remained stable. The fourth—the Glass Blight—grew clearer each time she reached for it. It did not feel like a wound that drain
