Suspension feels nothing like rest.
Aurora thought stepping back would create quiet.
Instead, it creates distance.
And distance is loud.
She wakes before dawn on the first day of her temporary withdrawal from operational authority. The valley moves around her as it always has, training rings active, scouts rotating, children running toward morning lessons, but something has shifted in the air.
Not hostility.
Uncertainty.
She is still there. Still visible. Still Marked.
But the center has moved.
Ilyra now coordinates daily routes.
Maera fields cross-territory messages.
Kade attends the Stability Council in her place when field operations are discussed.
Aurora walks through the valley without issuing instruction.
Without correcting.
Without anchoring.
And she feels it.
The web adjusting.
The web straining.
The bond hums behind her ribs.
Not distant.
Just… alert.
"You did this," her wolf murmurs.
"Yes."
"And you hate it."
"Yes."
