Location:Obsidian Academy — eastern gardens, formation workshop corridor
Date/Time:Mid Cinderfall, 9941 AZI
Realm:Lower Realm
The ironbark grove in the eastern gardens had turned. Cinderfall did that to the ancient trees — stripped the green from their upper canopy in layers, replacing it with copper and rust and a deep arterial red that made the grove look like it was bleeding upward into the sky. The lower branches held their color longer, dark and stubborn, but the tops burned.
Jayde found Kiran there because Kiran was always there when he didn't want to be found.
He sat on the stone bench beneath the largest ironbark, the one whose roots had cracked the paving stones and never been repaired. His dark hair was pushed behind his ears — both of them, the slightly pointed tips visible in a way that told Jayde he'd given up caring, at least here, at least alone. His sea-green eyes were fixed on something in his hands.
