Ravik found them near the outer wall, lounging by the old smith's courtyard—half-hidden behind broken crates and half-eaten bread. Of course.
The scent gave them away first. Fox spices, damp fur, and smoke. The whole crew was there—finally.
Torric, a towering bearkin with a calm presence, leaned back against the wall with a barrel under him like a chair. Fen, one of the quiet wolfkin twins, crouched on the ledge above, sharpening his blade, while Reva, the more talkative wolfkin sister, dangled from the scaffolding nearby like a bored cat. Nyric, a sharp-eyed foxkin, of course, was upside-down reading a scrap of poetry, tail flicking.
"You know," Ravik said, stepping into the light, "if you wanted to be harder to find, you could've just painted yourselves invisible."
Reva grinned. "We figured if you really cared, you'd sniff us out eventually."
"See?" Nyric said, waving the parchment. "Page twelve. 'The tail leads when the nose forgets.' Prophetic."
Torric raised a paw in greeting. "You're late."
"I was busy making sure the world hadn't started bleeding yet," Ravik muttered. "Where'd you all run off to?"
"Torric got hungry. Again," Reva said.
"We followed his stomach," Fen added.
"That's not true," Torric replied, deadpan. "I got bored first. Then hungry."
"And I got almost arrested for telling a priest his robes looked cursed," Nyric said proudly.
Ravik exhaled and leaned against the broken wall.
"Alright, jokes aside," he said. "Did any of you feel it?"
The mood shifted slightly. Reva stopped swinging her legs. Fen's sharpening slowed.
Torric nodded. "Yeah."
"That warmth during the ritual," Reva said. "It felt like standing too close to something dead."
Nyric flipped over onto his feet. "I thought the Aetherstone looked wrong for a moment. Only a second. But it flickered."
Fen, quiet as always, looked toward the sky. "The chanting stopped making sense halfway through. It was like… echoes, not words."
"Thought it was just me," Torric muttered.
Ravik crossed his arms. "It's not just me. And it's not just us. The priest we found earlier—he collapsed. Vomited blood. No injuries. Looked like he forgot where his body was."
Reva frowned. "They're going to pretend it's nothing."
"Because it's the Healing," Nyric added. "Nobody wants to be the one saying the gods might've sneezed blood."
"Still think I'm being paranoid?" Ravik said, but more to himself.
"Actually," came a deep voice behind them, "I'm starting to think you're the only ones making sense."
They turned to see a tall, broad-shouldered figure approach. His golden mane caught the lantern light, eyes sharp and alert. He wore the insignia of the royal guard over reinforced mail—a lionkin, one of the rarer and more respected beastkin tribes.
"I'm Captain Thorne," he said, voice steady but low. "I lead the guard detachment protecting the High Priest."
Reva raised an eyebrow. "You always sneak up on suspicious beastkin in the dark?"
"I heard you talking," Thorne said, ignoring the jab. "And… I've felt it too."
Torric straightened slightly. Fen slid down from the ledge.
"Felt what?" Ravik asked carefully.
"Something's wrong," Thorne said. "It's been building all day. I've seen priests shaking. Mages losing focus. I even heard one mutter the same phrase three times like he was trying to remember his own name."
Nyric tilted his head. "And your people?"
Thorne's expression darkened. "The others don't feel it. The human guards think I'm on edge because of the High Priest. They tell me to relax. That the Healing is working."
"But your instincts say otherwise," Ravik said.
Thorne nodded. "I've seen a hundred ceremonies. This one doesn't feel clean. The air's wrong. The ground feels like it's listening."
The group fell quiet.
Then Reva said, "Well. That's comforting."
"Got any worse news?" Nyric asked. "Or are we building to a punchline?"
"I don't know what's happening," Thorne said. "But if I'm not the only one feeling it... we may not have much time before something cracks."
Ravik looked at his crew—each of them alert now, no more jokes.
"Then we keep our ears open," he said.
"And maybe," Reva added, "keep our weapons closer tonight."