The successful navigation of the thaw was a quiet, profound milestone. The community of Aethelburg had faced the raw, untamable force of the awakening world and had not been broken. They had adapted, bent, and found a way to exist within the chaos, not as masters, but as partners. The Shard's continued silence was no longer a source of anxiety, but a testament to its faith in them. They were learning to hear the music of the world without an interpreter.
With the retreat of the snow, the land revealed its secrets. Patches of bare earth emerged, dark and wet, steaming faintly in the weak sun. The air thrummed with the urgency of new life. The first, brave green shoots of snowdrops and crocuses pushed through the leaf litter, and the birdsong, once sparse and lonely, became a constant, riotous chorus.
This rebirth, however, also revealed the consequences of their winter of creation.
