The quiet did not disappear all at once.
It loosened.
Willow noticed the change before the sound fully reached her, the way a room shifts when something living inside it stirs. She had been standing at the sink, rinsing a soft cloth under warm water, watching it darken and lighten again between her fingers, when her body reacted first. Her shoulders tightened. Her breath stalled. Something in her chest leaned instinctively toward the nursery.
Then she heard it.
Not loud. Not sharp. A thin, unsteady sound that wavered rather than rose, unfamiliar but unmistakable once it registered. Zana was awake.
