[Two days later — Veltharr — 10:00 AM]
The blacksmith of Veltharr was a man with large hands who worked in a forge that smelled of hot iron and mountain wood.
Kira had arrived with the bow.
Not broken — with the accumulated wear of months of intensive use.
The reinforcement at the upper tip had micro‑fractures that only [Predator's Sense] at maximum had detected.
The blacksmith watched her work the bow with Sense active — her amber eyes glowing while her fingers followed the micro‑fractures that he himself could not see.
"Can you feel the metal?" he asked.
"Not exactly." Kira gave him back the bow. "I feel the pattern of how it moves. The fractures change the pattern."
"Have you always had that ability?"
"Since I was born."
The blacksmith processed that.
"This is the first time someone has brought me a bow with problems I hadn't detected yet."
"They would have appeared in three weeks of intensive use."
"How do you know how long is left?"
"The expansion pattern."
