The pulse bikes hummed beneath them, kicking up dust and dusklight as the four riders sped along the winding path home. The horizon had already begun to tint gold, washing the trees in warm flickers that danced across their cloaks.

Yolti clung tightly to Kaelen’s back, her white braid trailing behind her like a comet’s tail. She muttered, “You know she only talks to Zephryn and Solara, right? I don’t know why you keep trying.”

“I wasn’t trying,” Kaelen muttered.

“Sure. You just happened to ask Selka what she thinks of the clouds.”

“I like weather,” he replied stiffly.

Yolti snorted and leaned in. “Mmhm. I’ll believe that when she answers you back.”

Up ahead, Zephryn and Selka shared the lead bike. She didn’t speak, as usual, but Zephryn glanced back just long enough to offer Kaelen a grin.

The wind carried the sound of their laughter forward. For a moment, it felt like the world had always been this way—peaceful, whole. As if no one had ever whispered the word Fracture into the bones of the earth.

As the hut came into view, nestled near the cliff’s edge just past the waterline, Zephryn raised one hand to slow the bikes. The scent of open sea met them—salt and lilac—and Solara stood outside waving her arms.

“Dinner’s still warm!” she called. “If the silver flame himself isn’t too busy with his legends.”

Zephryn blushed. “Mooom—”

Kaelen laughed as he skidded to a stop, helping Yolti dismount. “I swear she times those lines.”

“She does,” Yolti said.

Solara ushered them in. The table was already set—simple bowls of steam-root stew, candledrice, and thick flatbread with starfruit jam. Selka bowed respectfully before sitting. Zephryn leaned against the doorframe as the others ate.

Solara wrapped a scarf around his neck. Her voice was soft. “You sure you don’t want to stay the night at Kaelen’s? You’d be just down the road.”

He smiled, holding the ends of the scarf. “I want to be here. In case… anything.”

She tucked a curl of his hair behind his ear. “This is home, Zeph. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

.