As the group of three crowded to the side, stealing glances at the young woman across the staging ground, they couldn't quite help themselves.
The surprise was genuine.
None of them had spoken it aloud yet. None of them needed to. The feeling was shared quietly between them — passing through the silence the way understanding sometimes does when three people are looking at the same thing and arriving at the same place at the same time.
The burning man had explained that Gaia had forged the high god. He had said it plainly, like a fact being filed away rather than a story worth telling. He hadn't gone into detail. Hadn't explained the how or the cost of it.
But now, seeing her standing there —
The missing arm. The cold composure. The frustration sitting just beneath the nonchalance like something compressed under pressure.
'She chose to stay.'
'That's admirable.'
The words moved through all three of them simultaneously. Not spoken. Just present.
