[Day 1 — Eastern Road — 7:00 AM]
The eastern road wasn't a road.
It was a suggestion.
A line of compacted earth between fields that eventually became a mountain trail that eventually became something the guild maps called a "trade route" with unjustified optimism.
Kira looked at it as they left the wooded area surrounding Imperial City and assessed it with the same expression she'd used to assess the desert near Khar'Seth.
"Passable," she said.
"Is that good?" asked Emily.
"It's the bare minimum. Yes."
---
The marching pace was set by Kira without anyone asking.
Twenty meters ahead. Amber eyes active but not glowing — [Predator's Sense] in passive mode, enough to detect without spending energy. Her ears rotating softly toward each new sound.
Alex and Grim in the center of the group.
Raven on the left flank.
Emily and Luna — invisible but present through the weight that balanced Emily's stride — on the right flank.
