The grounds were still.
Blood soaked into the soil near the gate where the bodies had been cleared, and the smell of it hadn't gone yet. Lita's mother stood at the mansion's entrance, eyes moving along the treeline, along the road, along the nothing where the Northland soldiers had retreated. Her face gave nothing away.
"We're leaving," she said.
Lita's head came up fast. "Leaving? But… this is our home!" Her eyes moved across the courtyard, the training grounds, the walls she'd grown up inside. "Why are we leaving? We can fight them, can't we?"
"No." No hesitation in it. "The Northland forces are too strong, and they'll return with reinforcements. We won't survive another attack here. We need to regroup at the Southland capital."
Lita's throat tightened. "But… what about Sylana?"
"Sylana will meet us there. She's already been informed. We need to move now before it's too late."
Flare stood to the side, saying nothing. Her jaw was set. She'd heard the order and she understood it, understood the logic of it even while something in her chest pulled back toward the walls around them. She kept her hands loose at her sides.
"But why can't we stay and defend it? I've been training, I can fight—"
Lita's mother turned. One hand on her daughter's shoulder, her eyes doing something they rarely did. Softening. "You're strong, Lita. But this isn't the time for a stand. If we stay, we risk everything—including you. I won't let that happen. We'll rebuild and come back stronger, but for now, we need to be smart."
Lita looked at the ground. Jaw tight. The mansion was the only world she'd known, and walking away from it felt like conceding something that couldn't be taken back. But she looked at her mother's face and saw something that wasn't available for debate.
"Okay," she whispered. "I'll follow you."
The expression shifted back. "Gather what you need. We leave within the hour."
Her mother turned and walked inside without another word, already somewhere else in her head. Lita stood there a moment longer, staring. Flare moved up beside her, said nothing, and the silence between them was its own kind of conversation.
Rooms were closed off quietly. A few things taken. Most things left.
The smell of the place followed them through it, wood polish and candle smoke and something older underneath, and then they were out the front door for what might be the last time in a long while.
The three of them stood at the estate's edge as the sky bled darker. No ceremony to it. Just three people and the road.
Lita looked back once. Couldn't help it.
"I promise we'll come back," her mother said, not looking back herself. "But for now, we must keep moving forward."
Lita nodded. Flare kept one hand near her dagger, eyes already moving through the dark between the trees.
They walked.
Behind them, the mansion stood quiet and lightless, and the dark came in around it.