POV: Ashina
Three weeks after the memorial, Moonlit territory had settled into an uneasy kind of normal.
The grief hadn't gone anywhere. It had simply learned to coexist with the rhythms of daily life, morning training resuming, the kitchens finding their routine again, children returning to their lessons. But Ashina noticed the edges. The way certain warriors flinched at loud sounds. The way Daniel's mother had stopped coming to communal meals. The way some of the freed prisoners, despite every comfort offered, still woke screaming in the night.
Healing wasn't linear. She was learning that.
She was also learning that being Luna was nothing like she'd imagined.
