The days that followed had no single dramatic shape to them, which was its own kind of relief. Twenty days passed in the pocket world, and the shape of them was work, steady and unglamorous and exactly what the kingdom needed.
Almond spent the first three days doing almost nothing but sitting in the Spiritual Weaving Room with the Essence of All Things settled into him, relearning his own arsenal from the ground up. Every Grimblade he had ever forged came apart and went back together sharper, and Ashkryon's molten lattice grew three new channels once its maker understood essence the way a native speaker understands a language instead of a phrasebook.
Lily rebuilt her Dreadling core around the Unheard Absolute, and for the first time since anyone had known her, her Dreadgate stopped making any sound at all when it opened, which unsettled even Benedict the first time he watched it happen beside her.
