We did not take the core.
That was the first argument and the shortest. Lydia was still grey around the mouth. Thalia's value was on the plain, reading grass and towers. Orin could not leave a city that had just watched clan scouts run. Seraphina stayed to keep the Descendants' time-wards from rotting. The others held the cut and the tents. A raid group that looked like a procession would arrive already named.
Six of us left before the ribbon fully brightened.
Isolde. Sael. Feng Lan. Vale. Elizabeth. Me.
The living ship Isolde chose was smaller than the one that had crossed the storm. A courier hull. It sat low in the water and drank current instead of fighting it. Thalia stood on the shore as we cast off and only said, "The sea is leaning toward you. Do not lean back."
Then the plain was gone.
