Korreth arrived the way Korreth always arrived.
Without warning.
One moment the road was still threading through the pass, stone walls rising on either side, the world narrowed to switchbacks and wind.
Then the path turned.
And the whole city existed at once.
Korreth spread across the mountain's base in layered roofs and pale roads. Above it sat the cultivation compound, built into the slope with the same severe geometry Vane remembered.
And above that—
The mountain.
Its upper reaches disappeared into cloud.
Ashe stopped walking.
Nobody asked why.
Vane had seen her come home before.
There was always a moment like this.
No announcement.
No visible sentimentality.
She simply stopped, and some part of her seemed to settle back into place before the rest of her continued forward.
Her eyes lifted toward the compound.
"The lamp's lit."
Vane followed her gaze.
High above the lower buildings, one narrow window held a single point of warm light.
