Elara stopped pretending she was not searching.
Curiosity had shifted into something sharper, something restless. She no longer wandered the fortress absentmindedly. She studied patrol patterns. Counted how many left at dusk. Noted how many returned at dawn.
The numbers rarely matched.
No one else seemed concerned.
That was what unsettled her most.
********************************************************************************************
She found Asha near the western cliffs at first light, stretching before training. The sky was still bruised with early morning blue, frost clinging to the ground like a second skin.
“You said something the other day,” Elara began without greeting.
Asha did not stop stretching. “I say many things.”
“You said it’s easier to move before the shift.
