Fog lifted on the third morning after silence held the trees. Time moved slow near the cabins where men kept to themselves. Smoke curled from chimneys like thoughts left unspoken.
A few days spent arranging things, running drills, one clash after another as five strong wills figured out how to stay close without breaking apart.
Kieran handled the plans. Maps covered the big cabin's table now, like it had become some kind of command post. Intelligence notes sat beside comms records, plus names of people who might join them - scattered everywhere. Eighty-seven days until the Severance Ritual. The Council already held nine out of twelve Alphas they needed for the key event. That left three still undecided. Should Sage manage to sway just one among those three, nothing else would matter - the ceremony would collapse anyway.
