The transition from forest to village was so gradual I didn’t notice it at first. One moment, the trees pressed close around us, holding the last echoes of the portal’s strange energy. The next, roots gave way to smooth stone etched with faint spirals that pulsed softly under my feet. Lanterns glowed ahead, warm and amber, like someone had bottled candlelight and hung it from branches. I slowed my pace. The houses revealed themselves gradually, shaped from wood and pale stone, their windows glowing with amber light. Not huts. Not ruins. Real homes, lived-in and humming faintly with something I didn’t have a name for. The place felt alive. Cewyn walked beside me with the kind of calm that made me want to borrow some. Rowan moved ahead, posture steady, like gravity had signed a contract to...