The clearing stirred early, though the sun was still low behind the trees. Morning light filtered through the canopy in fractured beams, hazy but gentle. There were no orders. No announcements. But the group moved, as if by shared understanding.
Raif stood near the orb, eyeing the now-familiar pulse that beat faintly beneath its surface. A glance told him the perimeter was still intact. No breaches. No signs of motion. He turned back to watch the others.
Goss and Eloin moved around the storage pit, tightening its lining with overlapping bark sheets and moss sealant. Goss muttered about airflow and rot while Eloin adjusted the angle of the drainage groove.
At the edge of the camp, Lira and Syl paced the perimeter. They spoke softly, a few words at a time, mostly dry remarks and unfinished jokes. Lira had handed her stave to Goss, who now used it occasionally when he crouched to inspect seams. He was more or less trying to keep himself busy.
Near the centre post, Mira and Naera worked in quiet coordination, lashing together bark planks for a new segment of flooring. Mira's face was set, but not distant. She said little, but the edges of her movements had softened. Naera offered a small nod of approval, not forced, just seen. She felt like the bridge that once burned without her knowing was being repaired, one piece of wood at a time.
Further off, Hennick had constructed a makeshift drying rack out of salvaged vine and bent branches. He used the blueprints that Raif showed him, courtesy of the orb. He whistled as he worked, stopping only to eye the clouds and mutter about the wind. A sense of longingness washes over him, but it was quick, just like the wind.
Kael returned from a sweep of the northern trees, stepping lightly over roots. He carried fresh markings on his bark map, updating a section of forest pathways with small, exacting strokes. He was worried. He saw something. Unknown to him what it was, but also just out of his reach. If he could speak, he would say something along the lines of, "There is something there. Something big. Something watching"
Raif breathed in, letting the calm settle. There was something fragile in it, a peace not yet broken.
Eloin stood at the edge of the cairn, eyes fixed on a patch of untouched dirt. The laughter from earlier still echoed faintly behind him, but he didn't turn back to it. He crouched low, running his fingers through the soil, tracing a shape only he could see.
Not a grave. Not a monument. Something else. Something still missing.
His hand paused over the ground. It shouldn't feel like they had moved on.
He began shaping the first frame, pulling barkwood slats from the side of the tool pile, laying them down with deliberate angles. Each piece rested in a line, clean, silent, already part of something more. He was seeing something only he could see, but there was a presence watching him.
Raif approached quietly. No need to ask what he was doing. The intention lived in the space around him.
"You couldn't wait?" Raif said, voice low.
Eloin didn't look up. "He waited for us. This is the least we do."
Raif knelt beside him. The frame already resembled something familiar, the bones of a system blueprint, but more organic. More felt than followed.
"You're using the guide," Raif said.
"Not exactly," Eloin murmured. "But it's in my head. Like the shelter. Once you see the lines, they don't leave."
"You think it'll take?"
"Doesn't matter. We build it anyway."
Raif reached for a slat, aligning it alongside Eloin's. "You're right."
Eloin sat back for a moment, wiping a smear of dirt on his trouser leg. "He was stubborn, you know. Quiet, but stubborn. Didn't know him for long but it felt like I knew him for longer. I wonder if we knew each other before, how our relationship would be? Brothers? Friends? Or maybe just strangers that acknowledged each other on the road. "
Raif gave a faint smile. "He gave us time. We owe him something that lasts."
"We all do," Eloin said. He looked toward the centre of camp where the others moved, half-silhouetted by the dappled light. "Even the ones who didn't know him. They'll feel it, if we do this right."
Naera arrived as the first arch was set into place. Her eyes lingered on the frame, but not in hesitation, it was the kind of silence born from knowing something needed to exist.
She stepped forward and began helping to weave the spine.
"You felt it too?" Eloin asked quietly.
"He died for us," she said. "This shouldn't be forgotten. I wanted to do it earlier but… It was hard."
Raif met her eyes and offered a nod of quiet understanding.
None of them spoke after that. But something passed between them, a moment of shared memory and resolve.
Later, Goss wandered over, eyeing the shape with mild suspicion. Then he saw the symbols marked faintly into the bark supports, circles within triangles, the downward flame.
His expression shifted.
"Looks right," he said quietly. "Real. Like he'd scold us if we half-assed it."
Raif nodded. "We follow the lines. Same as always."
"Then I'll make sure the seams hold."
He dropped beside the others.
Goss worked in rhythm with Eloin for a stretch, their movements seamless. At one point, Goss nudged Eloin and said, "You did good starting this. You're more stubborn than I gave you credit for. Thought it be Naera that does something, but who would have guessed?"
Eloin snorted. "Takes one to know one."
They shared a grin, brief, unguarded.
They came in waves.
Lira passed through next, returning from the southern walk. She paused near the orb, saw the figures bent over the structure, then turned wordlessly toward them.
She didn't speak, just helped bind a crossbeam. Her fingers moved with surety.
Syl arrived next. She stood for a while without joining. Just watched. Then tossed a bundle of dried vine at Goss.
"That bark's going to split in two seasons," she muttered. "Use these, unless you like rebuilding things twice."
"You offering quality advice or trying to sabotage the structure with your scraps?"
"Guess we'll find out in two seasons."
Their tones were dry, but neither smiled. The work mattered.
Hennick wandered in, trailing smoke from a half-burnt branch. He looked at the build, the angles, the way it curved slightly to mimic the spine of the shrine.
"Don't know who this is for," he muttered, "but they'd better appreciate it."
He helped anyway. When he passed Naera a cord of vine, he paused just long enough to murmur, "This is good. You're good. Keep going."
Mira and Naera arrived together. Mira hovered at the edge. Naera didn't speak, just met her eyes and gave a faint nod. Mira exhaled, tension slipping from her shoulders, and stepped forward to help.
Together, they carried the last bark panels toward the base. Mira didn't look anyone in the eye, but she moved with care, no hesitation.
Then, slowly, near the final stretch, came Rix.
He circled the construction once. Said nothing. Then leaned down, adjusted a misaligned strut, and nodded once.
Raif stood.
He laid the final plate into place.
The orb pulsed.
[Structure Completed: Shrine for the Dead – Identity: Thomund]
[Passive Effect Activated: +2 KE per day]
No one moved for a while.
Then Naera stepped forward and placed something into the hollow at the centre of the arch, a bark wolf tooth, smoothed with time. Thomund had handed it to her before his last fight. It never left her. Much like he hasn't left us.
She whispered something. Stood. Walked away.
Raif watched her go. His hand brushed the bark frame, grounding himself. The air still held weight, but something had shifted. This place remembered.
The orb's glow dimmed.
The jungle watched.
And the clearing, for now, held tightly.
Like mother holding her children.
Kael lingered near the edge of the trees, half-shadowed by a leaning trunk. He didn't go help the others, there was something more important to him. His eyes flicked between the shrine and the quiet gathering. Something in his stance suggested awareness, a tilt of the head, a shift in posture. As if the silence carried more than memory. He didn't belong there, but that doesn't mean he wasn't welcomed. He knew it would be okay to pay his respects later. For now though… This came first.
Rix stood beside him, arms folded. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Kael gave a single nod. His eyes never leaving the trees.
Rix didn't push. Just looked out at the jungle, then back at the shrine.
"Some things don't need to be spoken," he murmured.
Mira lingered after the others drifted away. She pulled something from the pouch at her side, a small disk of bark, worn smooth at the edges. She placed it beside the tooth, then stepped back, eyes locked on the offering.
The fire had long since burned down. The shrine stood complete.
One by one, they returned to the routines of survival. The fire was stoked. The watch resumed. Tools were sorted and food inspected.
But none of it felt quite the same.
Raif stood alone at the edge of the clearing. He didn't look at the orb. He looked at the shrine, the name carved, the lines drawn, the silence kept.
And for a time, he simply stayed there.
Watching. Remembering.