The mountain hadn't gone quiet.
Even after Ayara's retreat, after the walls healed and the shimmerstone cracked, something remained...a whisper beneath the stone, like breathing that never quite stopped.
Liora heard it when no one else did.
Not words.
Not visions.
But feelings.
Longing. Hunger. And… mourning.
---
Sienna watched her daughter closely in the days that followed. Liora was no longer a pup, yet not quite a child. Her limbs moved like she remembered another body. Her gaze shifted like she was searching through memories she hadn't lived.
"She doesn't sleep much," Sienna told Kael quietly as they stood by the den's outer arch. "She just… listens."
"To what?" Kael asked.
Sienna looked down at the polished stone under their feet. "To whatever's beneath us."
---
Beneath the mountain…
Virelen stirred again.
The light-pool that had formed during Liora's awakening now dimmed and glowed in waves. Runes circled its edge, shifting into new shapes—names. Most unreadable.
