The Spirit Tempering began at dawn.
Maren had chosen the location the night before — a clearing two hundred meters off the northern road, far enough from passing travelers that what happened here wouldn't be visible, close enough that they could reach Crestfall's gates by evening if the tempering completed on schedule.
Twelve cycles. Twenty hours.
Kael sat cross-legged in the clearing's center with his formation arranged at the perimeter — the Commander at the northern edge, Daren at the south, the wraiths above, Thresh pressed against his left leg in the particular way that meant the hound intended to remain there regardless of instruction.
He didn't argue with Thresh.
Sera sat at the clearing's eastern edge with Calder's volume four open — the one that documented the tempering sequence in the most detail — and her notebook beside it. Maren sat across from Kael, close enough to monitor through the Sovereign bond, far enough not to interfere.
