---
Breakfast ended with warm bowls, quick jokes, and a steady calm. Kai pushed back his seat and stood. The room quieted on its own.
"Thank you," he said to everyone. "I will keep it short. First, I go up to the ridge to see Miryam and Skyweaver. Second, Luna and I will talk on the high ledge. Third, we set up new patrols before sunset. Lirien, I will look at the forge walls with you. Shadeclaw, Silvershadow, gather maps. Vexor, Shale, Flint, Needle, eat well and get your gear. Alka, keep the sky."
Alka's head tipped from the upper hatch. She gave a low chirp that meant "seen."
They moved.
Wind met them first. It came clean and bright over the desert edge and lifted Luna's silver hair like water. At the top of the mountain, Skyweaver stood with her palms open, reading the gusts. Miryam hovered a few body lengths away, not with wings but with will. A thin ring of air moved around her like a belt of glass. She dipped, floated, and grinned so hard her eyes went to crescent moons.
