The report room was quiet and cold.
Elira stood with Mira and Kael in front of Commander Vaelis. He wore clean armor and a calm face. A quill wrote notes in the air by itself.
"Tell me again," Vaelis said.
Mira spoke first. "We reached the deepest hall. A girl sat on a throne of thorns. Black hair. Red eyes. Wings and a tail. Very strong. She watched us. Then she moved and hit us in one second. She also said she knew our parents."
Kael added, "Her name was Nakea."
The quill paused for a moment, then kept writing.
Vaelis looked at Elira. "Injuries?"
"Bruises only," Kael answered. "She could have killed us. She did not."
The quill resumed its scratching. "Assessment: unknown entity; observed non-lethal engagement; escalation risk moderate to high. Recommendation: observation, no escalation."
Mira took half a step forward. "With respect, Commander—'observation' is what you order when you'd rather not see."
Vaelis's eyes flicked to her. He didn't reprimand her. He didn't do anything at all.
Elira took a breath. "She said something to me. She said my light is not pure. She said, 'You'll understand when the other half wakes.'"
For a very short time, Vaelis's eyes changed. He looked surprised, then normal again. The quill made a small mistake and then corrected it.
"Understood," he said. "Your team is dismissed. Keep training. Wait for your next task."
They left the room. The door closed softly behind them. It felt like a wall.
After they were gone, Vaelis stayed alone for a while.
He burned the floating page with a small spell. The ash disappeared.
"Send in Telwin and Gray," he said.
Two officers entered. One was thin and strict. The other was broad and quiet.
"Go to the ruin," Vaelis told them. "Check the mana there. Do not fight anything. Stay unseen."
He paused. "Also watch the team. Watch Elira closely. Note any change in her casting, in her elements, in her behavior. Everything."
Gray asked, "Is this a containment?"
"It is a precaution," Vaelis said. His voice was flat, but his hands were tight.
Training that day was the same as always, but it felt different.
Mira's spells were sharp and careful. Fire, water, ice, and grass moved like parts of a clock. Kael's steps were heavy and strong. Elira was fast—too fast. She cut corners in her stances. The wind answered her, but it felt strange, like a small hum under her skin. Each time she stopped, her hands shook.
She could still feel Nakea's touch on her blade. Two fingers. A whole storm stopped like nothing.
Evening came. The yard turned dark blue. They stayed longer than usual.
"Say it," Kael said softly.
Elira looked down. "I keep seeing her. Selene. She stood between me and danger once. I don't know if she is dead. I don't know what to hope for."
"There is no clear report," Mira said. "But there is also no proof she lives."
"That is the worst part," Kael said. "When you know a man is dead, you grieve. When you do not know, you never stop waiting."
"And Darius?" Elira asked.
"Missing is a kind of grave," Kael said. "You carry it with you."
They were quiet for a while. The yard bell rang far away.
"I also keep hearing Nakea's words," Elira whispered. "The other half. Inside me. What is it?"
Mira and Kael looked at each other. "We will watch," Mira said. "If anything changes, we will see it."
"You are supposed to tell me it will not happen," Elira said, but did not smile.
"Nothing is impossible now," Mira answered.
They left the yard together and went back through the halls.
The next day, they took a simple patrol outside the western wall.
The land was old farmland with broken fences. A storage barn had a nest of plague gnats. It was easy work.
Mira used a light mist to pull the gnats into a narrow lane. Kael raised a low wall of stone and ran a thin line of lightning along it. Any gnat that touched the wall died at once.
Elira cut through the air with wind. Her blade made clean paths where no gnats could fly.
"Two more bursts," Mira called. "Then close the lane."
"Okay," Kael said.
Elira stepped and cut again—then froze. For a tiny moment, the wind felt wrong. The edge went darker at the rim, not like shadow or light, but something else. The gnats hit that edge and fell straight down.
She looked at the line she had made. The dark edge faded and was gone.
"Elira?" Mira asked. Her voice was very calm.
"Lane clear," Elira said. She did not add anything more.
They burned the nest, salted the ground, and marked the map for the next team. On the road back, no one spoke. Kael looked once at her hand. Mira looked once at her blade. Elira kept her eyes on the road and told herself the wind in the grass was only wind.
By the time the towers of the Sanctum appeared, the sky was copper. In the hall, they ate without taste. Breathing and swallowing felt like two different jobs.
"You don't have to talk," Mira said gently when they stood up.
"I don't know how," Elira said.
"That's already talking," Kael replied. It almost sounded like a joke, but it wasn't.
Night made the room feel larger and emptier.
Elira sat on her bed and held the pendant her father had left. The dark stone lay quiet in her palm. She had worn it because she should. Now she held it because she needed to.
"Father," she whispered. The word felt strange in her mouth. "Why did you give me this? What is it for?"
The stone warmed a little. She could not tell if it was the stone or her hand. She could not tell where her own breath ended and the wind began. The not-knowing scared her.
She lay back. Sleep came late and rough. In her dream she saw Selene in the snow, smiling at something far away. She saw Darius walking into a white fog that did not return people. She saw Nakea's red eyes like a mirror. Over all of it, a voice:
You'll understand when the other half wakes.
Elira woke with her heart racing. The room was dark. The lamp had died. Her hair lay across the pillow like someone had touched it. The pendant was warm again. Not warm from sleep. Warm like breath.
She sat very still. The air felt full, like a closed hand. A soft draft touched her cheek. The window was shut.
"Stop," she whispered. The draft did not stop.
She closed her fingers around the pendant until it hurt.
"If the other half wakes," she said, "will there be anything left of me?"
The wind moved slowly around her, like it was learning her shape. It was not an answer. It was a promise that an answer would come.
She set the pendant against her throat and listened to her breathing until it became steady again.
In the corridor outside, a boot turned on stone and then went silent. A shadow leaned back into deeper shadow. A man waited without moving, as if his heartbeat might make noise.
After a long time, he left like water sliding away. Someone had ordered him to watch. Someone wanted to know first if the girl was changing.
Dawn put frost on the yard. Their breath rose like smoke.
Elira arrived early. Mira joined her with a small nod. Kael came soon after. They drew steel at the same time. No one said "again," but they moved through the forms as if the word was in the air.
By midmorning, the cold was gone. Elira felt that thin, strange edge in her wrists again—like there was an extra line in the wind that did not belong to her.
"You'll tell us if something feels wrong," Mira said. It was not a question.
"I don't know what 'wrong' is now," Elira answered.
"We'll learn it," Kael said. "Before it learns us."
A runner brought orders—patrols and drills. Small things. The big thing had no name yet.
They turned toward the gate together.
Above them, two men watched from the wall—Telwin with sharp eyes, Gray with steady hands.
"See it?" Telwin asked.
Gray kept his gaze on Elira. "The air wants something from her."
"Log it," Telwin said.
"And if it is what we think?" Gray asked.
"Then we'll be ready," Telwin replied. "Or we'll pretend."
The banner over the arch moved once in a thin breeze.
Light washed the stones. It did not make them warm.