The road back was long. The Tower's gate had deposited her far from the academy. Days of walking through rolling hills and quiet forests. She passed villages. Crossed bridges. Kept moving.
Her body was healed. Her mana was full. But something else was tired. Something beneath the skin. Behind the eyes.
She saw the city from a ridge. Sprawling. Warm lights in the growing dusk. Smoke from chimneys. The distant sound of carts and voices.
She had no business here. No mission. No chase.
She went anyway.
The city gates were open. Guards glanced at her. Noted her blade. Her bearing. Let her pass.
The streets were busy. People laughed. Shouted. Bartered. The smells of bread and meat and flowers mixed with the sharper scent of sweat and horses.
Lilith walked through it all. A ghost in white. No one spoke to her. Her silence was a wall.
She found the district she sought by instinct. The quiet part. The part for people who had money and wanted to forget.
