The fight stopped instantly.
Silence crashed down.
Before anyone could react—
A voice rang out from behind.
No one visible yet but the voice was Clear and sharp.
Unmistakable.
"Sambha" It said.
The child froze.
He turned towards the sound instinctively.
And responded to the sound.
He remembered the voice, there's no doubt it was someone he knew.
But is that the person that sambha knew, or just a imagination of a child?
"...mama?"
The battlefield shattered into the Shocked.
Let's find out.
The battlefield of sacred Ramfal—silence fell.
Not the fragile silence that follows hesitation, but the absolute kind, heavy enough to press against the chest.
The shadow turned back to take a peek.
Meanwhile Sambha's voice still lingered in the air.
He repeated. "...Mama?" While searching for someone at the direction of voice.
No one moved.
Not a soldier.
Not the elder.
Not even the shadow.
But someone was marching as fast as he can.
Limbo felt his body react before his mind did. He stepped half a Step forward, placing himself slightly between sambha and the space ahead. Not to defend, nor to challenge.
He just responded to his instinct call.
Gaja noticed and shifted subtly to Limbo's side. Rin's breath was shallow, her fingers were tightly interlock with other.
And then she placed hands on Sambha's shoulder.
The forest did not stir.
Then suddenly,
The sound of footsteps began to approach.
Step....step step.
Soft and unhurried. They were close enough that no one could say when she had arrived.
Soon,
A women stood at the edge of the battlefield.
There was no flare of auraor mana.
No distortion of air, nor any kind of pressure that crushed the lungs.
Yet the space around her felt... Corrected.
As if the World had adjusted itself the moment she appeared.
Her eyes began to scan for someone.
Her gazed did not go to Limbo.
It did not go towards the shadow.
It did not acknowledge the elder, nor the kneeling soldiers.
Ignoring everyone it went straight to the child.
"Simha," she said again.
Not a louder it was closer and clearer.
The boy's shoulder trembled.
For a heartbeat, he didn't move. Then his suddenly his feet Move on his own.
Rin hand shot out, catching his sleeve.
"Sambha —"
The child turned just enough to look at her. His eyes were wet, shining with fear. More than that —Relief.
"I have to go, she came." He whispered.
Rin's grip loosened.
Sambha ran. Not fast, not clumsy.
But with the urgency and desire of someone who had held himself together for too long.
The women knelt before he reached her.
The moment he touched her, the tension broke.
Sambha burried his winning and sobing face into her shoulder, his tiny fingers clutching tightly as his breath hitched between joy and then shattered into more sobs.
"I was scared," he cried. "I don't know where to go."
".....Dada ....hit me..."
"Grandpa... attack me."
She held him without hesitation and listen to his every words. One hand firm against his back, the other resting gently on his head to confront him.
"I know," she said softly. "I know."
"I'll see them later."
A unknown tension rises in elder and shadow.
The battlefield watched them.
No one spoke.
The elder moved.
He stepped forward and lowered himself fully, carrying cracked staff laid across the ground, head bowed deeper than before.
The soldier follow and bowed there heads with respect towards the "MahaRani..."
Not by command but the recognition.
Limbo felt it then, it wasn't a pressure like he felt while facing elder and shadow.
This wasn't a danger.
His system remained silent. No prompt. No warnings. No analysis.
As if whatever stood before him did not require categorisation.
The women lifted her head at last.
Her gazed passed over the kneeling soldiers without pause. Then it found the shadow.
They regarded each other in silence.
"You finally come," the shadow said. "I knew you wouldn't hold yourself from coming, when you heard the news."
"My heart heard the crying of my child, and how can I hold myself." She replied.
"You pushed him away from his destiny," the shadow added, tone unreadable.
"He stepped forward on his own, he will forge his own path—its better than following someone else shadow," she answered calmly.
No accusations, no quarrel.
History lay between those words, unspoken, heavy.
The shadow incline his head slightly.
"Enough, he will waste his life this way."
She rose, one hand still resting on Sambha's shoulder. Then she turned towards the battlefield.
"This conflict ends here," she said.
Her voice was not loud.
It did not need to be.
"No laws were broken. No malice was intended. The child is returns to his home."
She paused, eyes shifting briefly to Limbo, then to Rin and Gaja.
Sambha look at trio and then at the women.
"They will also accompany him." In an instant she knew what the heart of Sambha wants.
The elder blowed lowered, but—
They kidnapped the kuwar.
Why should be they treated like "Atithi."
Elder's words carry the feelings of solder.
Do you think he will refuse to come with you, and choose to stay with — the one who wish to harm them.
No one knows him more than me.
He's three year's old but he can sense the malace.
"This matter can be discussed later," shadow intruped.
"As you command," elder agreed for time beings.
The soldier lowered their weapons in unison.
Limbo felt her gaze on him again.
Just for a moment.
You stood, she said. "When it wasn't even your burden."
Nothing more.
No thanks.
No reward.
But deep down Limbo felt it settle into him a weight that could not shrug off.
Sambha looked up at her, then turned back towards Limbo.
"You'll come too," he said quietly. It wasn't a question but rather a doubt.
Before Limbo could answer, the women spoke on his behalf.
"Yes," she said. While adding "he will."
Preparation began immediately.
The battlefield loosened —not into calm, but the motion and emotion of reunion and strange mysteries of identity.
Who were they that holds this much power?
Are they Rich people in the tribe, or someone related to politics.
The time will solve this mysteries.
But not now.
As they turned towards the forest path, Limbo felt it clearly now.
This was no longer a local matter.
This looks like a matter of a country.
The world has answered.
And it would not be silent again.
But somewhere far.
Someone or something began be restless.
It was trying to escape by breaking the case.
"Whoa." Guard said to fellow soldier.
It's a scary we have to tell the king.