The morning sun rose soft and golden over the pack lands, gilding the rooftops and touching the fields where only yesterday smoke had curled upward. The war was truly ended. No enemy banners darkened the horizon. No horns blared to wake them with dread. For the first time in months, the world felt… quiet. And remarkably, normal.
Most remarkably of all: no one was shouting, no one was drawing swords, and no one was trying to banish anyone else into the woods. Instead, the great hall was filled with the most unlikely sound—laughter. And not the nervous, careful kind either. The loud, messy, wheezing kind that made your sides hurt and your eyes water.
It had started at dawn, when Kael attempted to inspect the returning patrols while still wearing his dented, lopsided crown. He had marched o
