[Afternoon — Path to Khar'Seth]
The descent from the hot springs took less than an hour.
Kira led as always, but differently. Without the active tracker mode, without assessing threats. Just walking with her hands in her pockets and something like anticipation in her ears.
"Why are you walking like that?" asked Raven.
"Like what?"
"As if you're about to show us something."
Kira didn't respond immediately.
"Because I am going to show you something."
---
[Khar'Seth — Central Plaza — 5:30 PM]
The evening market was different from the village the team had seen in previous days.
More noise. More color. Stalls open, Beastfolk moving with more purpose, the smell of food mixing with the smoke from torches that were beginning to be lit.
It wasn't fully recovered.
But it was trying.
"The evening market has been here for three hundred years," Kira said as they entered. "Matthias closed it in the first month of control. It reopened two days ago."
