The clearing was quieter than it had been in days.
No growls beyond the wall, no smoke in the air, no blood in the grass. Just the rustle of damp leaves, the low burble of the rainwater, and the faint wind shifting between half-mended shelters. Rain clung to everything still, mud-slick walls, overturned baskets, footprints gone soft around the fire pit. But it had stopped falling.
Raif stood in front of the orb.
He hadn't slept. Not properly. Even now, his hands felt too cold and too heavy at once, like his own body was resisting the decision. But the others were already gathering behind him. Watching. Waiting.
Mira was the first to speak. "You don't have to rush it."
"I'm not," Raif said. His voice was steadier than he expected. "I'm just... not sure what we're summoning this time."
Rix approached next, arms folded tight across his chest. "You know we need more people. Even if it's risky. Even if they come scared."
Raif gave a slow nod, eyes fixed on the orb. Its surface pulsed faintly, soft and muted, like it too had weathered the siege. There was no great light show. No thunderous hum. The orb only waited.
"I don't want to bring anyone else here," Raif said. "Not unless I have to. Not unless I believe we can keep them alive."
"Then believe it," Mira said simply. "Because we made it through worse."
Behind them, Goss shifted his weight on the logs stacked for drying. Naera stood near the shelter entrance, arms crossed, watching Raif with an unreadable expression. Lira lingered by the fire pit. Eloin adjusted the mud-packed edge of the outer wall with a distracted hand. Kael standing, watching the treeline silently.
No one spoke against the decision. But no one encouraged it either.
Raif exhaled. Looked up at the orb again.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Let's call them."
He stepped forward and placed his hand on the surface of the orb.
The air changed.
Not with heat or sound, but a shift in pressure, like the moment before a storm. The clearing held its breath. Grass bent outward from the orb in a ring. Light flared from the orb, as threads of light lash out, blinding everyone nearby. Coming out of the light five bodies emerge, each landing on the ground differently, but none fell. Just bewildered.
None of them spoke at first. Just breathing, blinking, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.
A girl stood nearest to Raif. Small, maybe ten years old, with pale skin and wide, startled eyes. Her hair was damp with sweat or rain. She took one uncertain step back as Mira crouched low, hands open, gentle.
"Hey there," Mira said softly. "You're safe. You're alright."
The child didn't answer. She looked past Mira at the camp, the walls, the shelters, the people watching. Then she turned and bolted, running blindly toward the far edge of the clearing.
"Wait, " Mira rose quickly, but Naera held up a hand.
"I'll go," Naera murmured, as she leaves quickly following the little girl.
Another figure had already started walking, not away but sideways, along the wall. A man in his late twenties with a lean frame, dark hair, and a distant look. His eyes locked on Hennick, who stirred upright with a small wince from his seat.
"Luan?" Hennick said, voice soft with disbelief.
The man didn't answer. Not even a nod, before turning away. His eyes were now fixed on the rest of the group. Hennick looked after him, brow furrowed. He tried to get up but his body wouldn't let him. Instead he sat there trying to get the man's attention.
Two others stood side by side, both silent but alert. One was young, maybe twenty, with sharp cheekbones and the weary posture of someone already frustrated with the world. He was scanning the structures, eyes lingering on the shelters with silent disapproval. The other, older and more worn, moved like a soldier, shoulders tight, eyes narrowed. Bren.
The last stood completely still. A girl, not quite grown, not quite a child, with dark hair and clenched fists. She looked slowly from face to face, confused. Searching.
Goss watched her carefully. There was something in her posture, something in the eyes. Familiar. A memory knocking at the back of his skull. But he couldn't place it.
Raif stepped forward, slow and steady. "You're safe," he said. "You've been summoned here. You're not alone. I know it doesn't make sense, but please be patient."
He paused, watching their reactions, half of them barely registering the words. The girl with the clenched fists didn't even look at him. She looked toward the trees, then at the people around her. Then back at the orb.
The moment held.
Then Rix broke the silence with a short, tired breath. "We've got a lot to talk about."
On the otherside of he clearing, Naera followed the child's path along the curve of the wall. The little one hadn't gone far, just behind the supply shelter, past the tools, down toward the fire pit near the sleeping tents. Rain still clung to the leaves above, and the earth squelched under Naera's boots.
She found the girl kneeling beside someone.
Syl lay there, unconscious and fevered, her face pale and damp with sweat. She'd been moved nearer the fire earlier that morning, propped up with hides and a folded pack. Tessa, if that was her name, was crouched beside her, not crying, not speaking. Just watching her with wide, quiet eyes.
Naera stopped a few steps away. Didn't move closer.
Tessa's small hand hovered over Syl's shoulder but didn't touch. She seemed unsure. Frightened, maybe. Or simply overwhelmed.
"She's sleeping," Naera said softly. "She's been sick. But we're taking care of her."
Tessa glanced at her, slow and wary. Then looked back to Syl.
"You know her?" Naera asked.
Tessa nodded once.
Naera crouched, lowering her voice. "What's your name?"
A pause. Then: "Tessa."
"Alright, Tessa. You can stay with her a while. She'd probably like that."
Tessa didn't answer, but she didn't run either. Naera stayed there, watching them both. The fire crackled nearby, and above, the canopy began to weep again, soft drops falling through the leaves, cold and constant.
By the time Naera returned, the clearing had changed. Tessa had stayed behind near the fire with Syl, curled quietly beside the sleeping girl as Mira stood guard a few paces away.
The others had formed a rough circle near the centre of camp. Raif stood at the centre, arms crossed, listening more than speaking. The newcomers were scattered, none of them close to each other. Fara leaned against a half-finished rack, arms folded. Daly had already begun walking the perimeter, silently shaking his head at the mud-and-bark walls. Bren paced like a caged hound.
It was Lira who broke the silence first.
"She's just a kid. We can't expect her to, "
"Nobody's saying that," Rix cut in. "But pretending she's not going to slow us down is dangerous."
"She's not a threat," Mira said. "She's probably ten. Have you seen a kid that young do anything dangerous?
"No one said she was," Eloin added. "But she's also not safe. Not here. Not in this place."
Naera stepped in, cutting the argument short. "She's not helpless either. She came straight to Syl. She knew her. That means something."
Goss looked up from where he sat propped near the drying logs. "And Syl would want her here," he muttered. "Even like this."
There was a pause. Everyone looked toward Raif.
"We protect her," he said. "That's not up for debate. But we do it with our eyes open. She'll need care, yes. But she's here now. Like the rest of us. We work around it. We adapt."
Luan, who had been standing apart until now, finally spoke. His voice was low, guarded. "That's easy to say when you're not the one hauling extra food or building twice the shelter space."
Hennick turned to look at him, surprised. "You think that's what this is about?"
Luan didn't answer. He walked away, slow and deliberate, vanishing behind one of the huts.
Hennick made to rise, but Raif gently stopped him. "Not now."
A heavy silence settled.
Bren finally broke it. "Then what do we do with the rest of us?" he asked Raif. "We've got names and no orders. You summoned us into a war zone. What's our role?"
Raif nodded, slowly. "You'll be assigned by dawn. Today's for rest, food, and breathing. Tomorrow we begin again. Together."
Daly muttered something under his breath about structural priorities. Goss gave him a sharp look but said nothing.
The fire crackled as rain traced lines in the mud.
The group didn't break apart, not quite. But they drifted. Each toward their own thoughts, their own corners.
By the time the sky turned fully grey again, most of the group had scattered. The rain came back light but steady, forming a mist above the cracked stone of the fire pit and turning the paths between shelters to thin ribbons of muck.
Raif stood beneath the awning near the orb, arms braced against the wood, watching the damp clearing. He could still hear the echoes of their voices, Lira's worry, Rix's sharp retort, Luan's coldness.
Mira joined him, brushing water from her shoulders. She didn't say anything at first.
"It's not going to be easy," Raif said quietly.
Mira nodded. "It never was. But this part? This part's different. You brought a child into a dying place. And people who don't know who they're meant to be yet."
"I know."
"But they're here now. That means something."
Raif let out a breath and glanced toward the fire. Tessa was still there, sitting beside Syl with her knees drawn up, head tilted down. Naera had brought her a dry wrap, and Mira had seen Goss quietly pass her a bowl of lukewarm broth without a word.
Fara sat nearby too, not close, but watching. She hadn't said much. But her gaze didn't wander. Always back to the girl and the unconscious woman.
Eloin and Daly were on opposite ends of the camp, each pretending not to watch the other. Bren had already circled the perimeter twice. Kael vanished into the trees minutes ago.
Raif turned to Mira. "We need to be ready. Not just to survive, but to hold. To mean something. Otherwise this all breaks."
Mira didn't smile, but her hand briefly touched his shoulder. "Then we hold."
Raif nodded once.
Then he stepped down into the clearing again, boots sinking into the mud. It was time to find Goss. To find Naera. To check the walls, the food stores, the shelters. To prepare.
Because the five who arrived today were only the beginning.