The Council never welcomed rebellion kindly.
Eliara stood at the gates of the Loomspire Citadel, the center of Weaving authority across continents, with Kera close at her side and Rowen watching their backs. The spire rose like a bone from the mountain's peak, glowing threads circling it like veins. It was here decisions were made, lives weighed, and rebellions buried.
But she wasn't here to kneel.
"They know we're coming," Rowen murmured.
"Good," Eliara replied. "Let them look us in the eye."
The gates opened with a groan. Council guards in ash-gray uniforms stepped aside, thread weapons at the ready. They didn't bow. They didn't smile.
They escorted.
Eliara walked straight, her pendant steady on her chest, the threads inside her humming—not just cleansing threads now, but something deeper. Creation. Restoration. Choice.
They passed through spiral halls lined with woven murals—scenes of the First Weavers, of the Veil's birth, of the world before it all split. But none showed the fractures. None showed the forgotten.
The Council Chamber was a dome of silver light. Twelve seats circled the center, each occupied by a figure in spectral gray.
The High Weaver, a severe woman named Alrys, stood as they entered. Her voice rang like iron on thread.
"Eliara Thorne. You were warned not to tamper with forbidden threads."
"I didn't tamper," Eliara said, calm. "I wove what you refused to see."
Murmurs rippled through the circle.
"You defied order," Alrys said. "You risked unmaking what remains."
Eliara stepped into the center. "And you let a monster like Nayir rise because you were too afraid to act."
Alrys' voice sharpened. "He was one of yours."
"He was one of yours," Eliara snapped. "You trained him. Promoted him. Ignored the signs."
Silence.
Rowen's hand hovered near his belt, ready to cast at the first sign of danger.
Kera stood close, silent but not afraid.
Eliara continued, quieter now. "He used a child. He created the Wake. He tried to overwrite reality. We stopped him. And we healed the Fracture."
"And you expect applause?" one of the Councilmen asked, voice thick with contempt. "You stepped outside every sanctioned law."
Eliara met his gaze. "Your laws are broken."
Gasps this time.
But Alrys only narrowed her eyes.
"And what would you propose, then? Chaos? An open Loom? Any threadwalker allowed to change fate as they see fit?"
"No," Eliara said. "I propose we fix what you've ignored. We rebuild. Protect instead of control. Heal the broken threads—not just stitch over them."
"You're asking for war."
"I'm asking for truth. And I'm not asking alone."
She turned.
And the doors opened again.
Behind them came others.
Weavers from the Wastes. Wanderers from forgotten villages. Survivors of the Wake. All bearing signs of thread-gift—some raw, some barely trained, but all awakened. Eliara had spent the weeks since the Fracture traveling, seeking them out, showing them they were not alone.
"This is your new world," she said. "You can stand with it, or against it."
Alrys' lips thinned.
"You dare threaten the Council?"
"No," Rowen cut in. "She dares replace it."
That night, the Citadel didn't burn—but it changed.
Three Council members stepped down. Five pledged support. The remaining four refused and vanished into the dark, taking with them secrets and followers.
It wasn't bloodshed.
It was a split.
A beginning.
Outside, under stars that blinked with woven light, Eliara stood on the high terrace of the Citadel. The Loomspire no longer hummed with containment, but with potential.
Kera joined her, a small bundle of thread-woven flowers in her hand.
"Did we win?" she asked quietly.
Eliara smiled faintly. "We started something. That's enough for now."
Kera looked up at the stars. "There are still so many lost."
"We'll find them. One thread at a time."
Footsteps.
Rowen.
He handed her a sealed scroll.
"From the fracture's edge," he said. "The threads never stopped moving."
She opened it.
Inside was a map.
A new scar in the world.
Another Fracture.
Another Wake forming.
Another call to arms.
She looked up.
"So it begins again."
Rowen nodded. "The Threads of War."