Panic is never elegant.
People imagine screaming and running in straight lines. In real life, panic looks like confusion wearing good clothes. It looks like elders shouting contradictory instructions. It looks like guards tripping over ceremonial carpets worth more than their salaries.
Anaya stood frozen while everyone else lost their mind.
"Protect the girl."
"No, restrain her."
"Secure the basin."
"There is no basin left."
"Someone fetch the records."
"Burn the records."
Excellent leadership. Truly inspiring.
The stranger had stepped back, hands raised, relaxed like this was mildly interesting weather.
Anaya noticed this. Her brain latched onto it because it needed something solid.
You do not stay calm unless you know what is coming.
Her mother grabbed her shoulders. Hard.
"Do not move," she said. "Do not speak. Do not feel anything strange."
Anaya almost laughed. It came out wrong and turned into a cough.
"I think that instruction is late," she said.
Her palm still burned. Not like pain. Like pressure. Like something trying to push out of a closed door.
The priest crawled forward on his knees. He was bleeding from the forehead. Blood made him look honest.
"This is forbidden," he said. "The Moonborn were sealed. Their blood was broken."
"Broken things still exist," the stranger said mildly. "They just wait."
Guards finally noticed him properly. Spears leveled. Brave now that there were rules again.
"You," the captain barked. "Name and purpose."
The man glanced at Anaya. Quick. Measuring. Like people did when they were deciding whether to lie.
"Kairav," he said. "Traveler."
That was not an answer. It was a placeholder.
The captain did not care. Captains rarely did.
"On your knees."
Kairav sighed. He actually sighed. Like a man asked to repeat a story he hated.
He dropped to one knee. Smooth. Controlled. Like he had practiced surrender without meaning it.
The moonlight shifted again.
Anaya felt it tug at her ribs.
That was new.
She pressed her uninjured hand to her chest. Her heartbeat was wrong. Too loud. Too fast. Like it was excited.
Excitement was inappropriate right now.
"Bind him," the captain ordered.
Two guards stepped forward.
They did not make it.
The air thickened. Not wind. Not heat. Pressure. Like standing too close to a waterfall.
The guards froze mid-step. Spears trembling. Faces pale.
Anaya gasped. She did not know why. She just knew something had snapped into place.
Kairav looked at her sharply.
"Do not," he warned.
Too late.
The pressure burst outward.
The guards flew back. Not violently. Gently. As if the world had picked them up and put them elsewhere.
They landed unconscious. Alive. Embarrassed.
Silence crashed down.
Anaya stared at her hands.
"I did not touch them," she said.
"No," Kairav replied. "You agreed with the moon."
That sounded worse.
Her mother let go of her. Slowly. Like touching a snake that might remember you.
"What are you," she whispered.
Anaya hated that question. People asked it when they stopped seeing you as human.
"I am me," Anaya said. "I think."
The priest began chanting under his breath. Old words. Emergency words.
"Stop," Kairav said sharply.
The chanting died.
Everyone turned to him.
"You do not want to complete that prayer," he said. "It ends with blood. Yours."
That got attention.
The captain swallowed. "Explain. Now."
Kairav stood. No one stopped him.
"The Moonborn were not destroyed," he said. "They were divided. Diluted. Hidden in ordinary families. Waiting for alignment."
He looked at Anaya again.
"She is a convergence."
Anaya blinked. "That sounds expensive."
Kairav snorted. Just once. Like the laugh escaped before permission.
"It is," he said. "In lives."
The moon flared brighter. Symbols on the ground pulsed.
The priest screamed.
"The seal is breaking," he cried. "She must be contained."
Contained. Another favorite word.
Anaya felt something tug from inside her chest. Not magic exactly. More like instinct. Like knowing when someone was lying.
She looked at the elders.
Fear. Greed. Relief.
None of them were thinking about her.
Common mistake, she realized. People loved outcomes. They forgot the person in the middle.
She took a step back.
No one noticed.
Another step.
Kairav noticed.
He tilted his head slightly. Approval. Or warning. Hard to tell.
Anaya turned and ran.
Bare feet slapped stone. Voices exploded behind her. Orders. Panic again. Worse this time.
She did not know where she was going. She just knew staying was a bad idea.
The exit gate loomed ahead.
It slammed shut.
Anaya skidded to a stop.
Cornered. Classic error.
She turned.
Guards. Elders. Her mother crying quietly like she was already mourning.
And Kairav stepping into her line of sight.
"Now," he said calmly, "you choose."
"Choose what," she shouted.
He met her eyes. Serious now.
"To belong to them," he said, "or to survive what you are."
The moon pulsed.
Her blood answered.
And Anaya understood something simple and terrifying.
This was not about choice.
It was about speed.
*****
The gate began to crack.
The elders began to pray.
And Anaya felt the moon lean closer,
like it had been waiting for her answer all along.