Faelyn nodded.
'This isn't how I planned this,' she thought.
[No,] Puffball said. [But you've been building toward it since the day you got here. The ground is more solid than you think. I mean it.]
'You always say that.'
[This time I REALLY mean it. Measurable difference.]
'There's no measurable difference, Puffball.'
[Faelyn. GO.]
ฅᨐฅ ⚞ • ⚟ ฅᨐฅ
Word went out and both tribes came.
The cooking space still half set up from two days ago. Silver pots to one side. The ground remembering where five thousand people had sat. People arrived faster than expected, less organised than earlier gatherings—just people moving toward something because something was happening.
Kito appeared at the front.
Kito appeared at the front.
He looked at Faelyn's face and stopped moving entirely.
"Lady Faelyn." Just for her. "Is ev'rything okay?"
"Everything's going to be okay, Kito."
