Lila reached across the small space between them and covered Elara's hand with her own. The contact was brief and solid.
"Good. We have work to do. But first you rest. Both of you. The keep will still be standing in the morning."
Elara slept that night in a familiar room that no longer felt entirely like hers. The sounds of Frostfang returned in pieces: the distant ring of a hammer, the low voices of the night watch, the wind moving across the stone.
The southern months sat behind her like a completed chapter. The northern ones waited to be written.
************
In the morning the three of them would stand together again under the same walls. The pack would see that the heirs had returned. The real work of the next season would begin. For now the night held, and the keep remained whole around them.
The first sign came during the Moon Blessing that marked the turn toward autumn.
