Kael.
The merchant stall quest was supposed to be safe.
Two silver for four hours of existing aggressively.
"No variables," I'd said.
Rael had looked at me like she was already preparing emotionally for disaster.
She was right.
The kid moved fast.
One second the coin box was on the stall.
The next it wasn't.
"HEY—"
I shouted.
Ran.
Boots hitting stone.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Shoved through the market.
"Watch it!"
Followed him into the alley.
Watched him climb like gravity was optional.
Made the exact decision I knew I shouldn't make.
The drainpipe held.
The bracket didn't.
CRACK.
There's a strange clarity when the ground is coming up at you and you realize you are not, in fact, built for this.
Then there was stone.
Then there wasn't anything.
White.
She was already there.
Not smiling.
Just watching me like I'd just confirmed something she suspected.
"That one," I said, brushing nonexistent dust off nonexistent sleeves, "felt avoidable."
"You're attracting attention," she replied.
"That's not helpful."
"It isn't meant to be."
I opened my mouth to ask something else.
She sent me back.
Sound returned.
Like someone dropped a curtain.
Stone under my hands.
Air in my lungs.
HNNGH—
The market silent.
I was sitting in the center of the square where I'd hit.
People weren't panicking.
They were deciding what I was.
I stood slowly.
Looked at the broken bracket.
Looked at the crowd.
"Well," I said, brushing dust off my sleeve, "that could've gone better."
No one laughed.
A woman pulled her child behind her.
Someone muttered about demons.
Someone said blessed.
Cursed carried further.
Rael was in front of me.
Her hand caught my jacket.
GRAB.
"What," she demanded.
"I fell."
"I saw that."
She shook me once.
"You stopped."
"That tends to—"
"You don't get to finish that sentence," she snapped. "You were on the ground. You weren't breathing."
"I'm aware."
"That's not reassuring."
Mira stepped closer.
She looked at the stone.
Then at me.
"You were here," she said quietly. "Then you weren't."
"I came back."
"That isn't what I said."
Senna's book snapped shut.
SNAP.
"You were clinically dead," she said flatly.
"Let's avoid terminology."
"It isn't terminology. It's observation."
"That's worse."
The market resumed in fragments.
Whispers.
Murmurs.
Pointing.
Rael finally let go.
"If you ever do that again," she said quietly, "I will drag you off the ground before you stop moving."
"That's not how—"
"I do not care how."
Aldric approached.
"You fell."
"Yes."
"You weren't breathing."
"That part is becoming repetitive."
"And now you are."
"I'm doing my best."
"My coin box."
I closed my eyes briefly. "Half a silver."
CLINK.
He nodded.
Took it carefully.
Avoided touching me.
That was new.
The market moved around me instead of through me.
The weapons dealer arrived.
Bootsteps.
Measured.
He looked at the sword.
"Where did you get that."
"Not selling."
"I haven't offered."
"You're about to."
He named a number.
Rael went still.
"That clears it," she said quietly.
"I know."
"It has no Vein trace."
"I've heard."
"It shouldn't exist."
"Yet here we are."
He added more.
"No."
Rael looked at me. "That fixes everything."
"I know."
"Very well," he said, and left.
Footsteps fading.
We walked back with one and a half silver.
No one joked.
No one argued.
After a while, Senna spoke.
"You asked her something."
"Yes."
"What."
"If it changes."
"And?"
"She said it depends on attention."
Mira walked closer than usual.
Not touching.
Just close.
Behind us, the market reshaped what it had seen.
Miracle.
Curse.
Undying.
Demon.
The white room had been mine.
Now it wasn't.
And this time, when I thought about coming back again, I wasn't sure I wanted an audience.