Location:Pavilion — Dragon Sanctuary, corridors, private room
Date/Time:Mid Frostforge, 9939 AZI — evening (continuous from Ch 355)
Realm:Lower Realm (soul-space)
Jayde had watched all of it from the edge of the clearing.
Arms crossed. Weight on her back foot. The distance deliberate — close enough to hear, far enough to be separate. Cataloging.
The sisters approached.
Yinglong led — jaw set, fierce-eyed. Xingteng, behind her, quieter, the haunted gray carrying something that looked like genuine regret.
"We wanted to—" Yinglong began.
"Don't." Jayde's voice was flat. Closed.
Yinglong stopped. Xingteng flinched — small, barely visible, the kind of flinch that came from a body that had learned to absorb blows without showing them.
Jayde turned away. Toward Takara and the four small forms at the edge of the clearing.
"We need to talk."
She walked. The five Panthera followed — four small shapes and one white kitten-shaped Takara at her side. The clearing fell behind her.
***
