Returning to the Crossroads was a somber affair. Korvax was given full honors. The success of the Kaleidos mission was celebrated in official channels, but within Black-Ops, the mood was grim. A Dawn-Class had escaped. A Tier 8 Architect was dead, but the cost was high.
Echo, Leyla, and Mira were given a week of mandatory leave. Ryn was reassigned to tech-support for their team, a move that felt strategic.
The first night back in their suite, the air was thick with unspoken truths. Leyla could smell Ryn on him. Mira's spatial senses had likely felt the shift in his energy.
Echo didn't lie. He gathered them in the common room and told them everything—about the grief, the connection, the bond that had formed.
Leyla's ears flattened, her tail lashing. "She is not one of us. The bond is weak."
"It's new," Echo admitted. "But it's real. She sees me differently. She understands the parts of this war that you, in your love for me, sometimes overlook. It makes us stronger."
Mira was quiet, her fingers tracing the seam of her robe. "Does she make you happy? In the moments between the fighting?"
Echo thought of the quiet solidarity in the observation lounge. "She makes me feel understood."
Mira nodded slowly. "Then we will understand her." She looked at Leyla. "Our bond with him is not diminished by sharing its light. It is proven by its ability to grow."
Leyla growled, but it was a sound of frustration, not true anger. She stalked over to Echo, her eyes glowing. "You are mine. You are Mira's. If this… soldier earns a place in your heart, she earns a place in our circle. But she answers to us too."
It was a demand, and a acceptance.
That night, they didn't invite Ryn. They reforged their own triad, with a new depth of honesty and a fierce, possessive love that absorbed the change. Their union was intense, a reaffirmation of their primordial bond.
[ Core Bond Strengthened: Triad Acceptance ]
[ Leyla and Mira gain trait: Unified Front – +10% to combined defensive power when fighting alongside Echo. ]
[ Echo's bond with Ryn is now recognized by the core bond, stabilizing it. ]