Weeks later, they found it.
At the edge of the city, hidden within an abandoned structure, the air shimmered with the same hollow cold Ariya had felt in the forest. A circle of blackened floor. A ripple in reality.
The Veil.
It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat waiting to be heard.
"This is your way home," Kael said.
She stepped toward it, feeling the pull instantly. Images flashed in her mind: the forest paths, the crisp morning air, the life she had lost in a single moment.
All she had to do was step through.
Her fingers tightened around her bow. She looked back over her shoulder.
Kael stood a few paces away, hands at his sides, expression carefully neutral. But his eyes betrayedhim. There was hope there… and fear.
"If I go," she said, "I may never see this world again."
He nodded once. "That's how Veils work."
"And if I stay… I may never see my home."
Silence stretched between them.
The Veil flickered brighter, impatient.
Ariya closed her eyes. She was a huntress. Her life had always been about choosing a path and following it without hesitation. Doubt could get you killed. Second-guessing meant missing the mark.
Yet this choice was not about survival.
It was about belonging.
She opened her eyes and stepped away from the Veil.
Kael's breath caught. "Ariya…?"
"I don't know this world," she said slowly. "But I know what it feels like to be alone in it." She met his gaze, steady and certain. "And I'm tired of being alone."
The Veil dimmed behind her, its pull fading.
For the first time since she'd fallen through the broken trail, Ariya felt something other than fear.
She felt possibility.
Kael's expression softened, relief and something deeper shining in his eyes. "Then I guess," he said quietly, "you'll need someone to show you how to live here."
Ariya smirked, slinging her bow over her shoulder. "Only until I learn enough to survive on my own."