They reached Moonlight at dusk.

The settlement emerged quietly, lanterns already strung low to keep their glow from carrying too far.

Moonlight was intact, somehow.

Snow had carried him the entire stretch.

The tiger moved at a steady pace across the narrow path, paws silent against the earth. Ryn leaned forward slightly, one hand tangled in the thick fur at Snow's neck, the other braced loosely on his side.

Blood had long stopped spilling from his eyes, however, they were still hard to lift. Ryn decided to keep them close for now.

Fritz walked beside him.

Not because he needed to.

Because Ryn did.

Fritz's armor was cracked along the shoulder, one gauntlet dented inward where bone should've snapped. He still clutched his stomach, where he had taken a bad slash.

The reaction was immediate.

Movement rippled through Moonlight like a held breath breaking.

Figures emerged from cover.

Then—

"Ryn?!"

Jay burst from between two structures, apron still tied crooked around his waist, hands stained dark with something that definitely wasn't dirt.

He froze mid-step.

"—What happened?" Jay demanded, panic showing through as he rushed forward.

"What happened—why are you—?"

He stopped short when he saw Ryn properly. Even if he looked fine, his left arm was bent beyond relief, and his eyelids were closed.

Ryn lifted his head a fraction.

"We're back," he said, voice rough but steady. "That's the important part."

Jay didn't argue after that.

Time passed in fragments after that.

Ryn remembered being laid down.

Remembered Snow's warmth leaving his side.

Then a calm sensation pierced his skin, warm and delicate at the same time.

It was Jay's Life Essence.

It flowed through Ryn carefully, measured and precise, threading itself through torn muscle and strained nerves.

Ryn exhaled as the pain dulled to something manageable.

"…You got better at this," he murmured.

There was a brief hesitation before Jay answered.

"Yeah, well," he said. "After the Isles, I figured I had to be."

Ryn let his head rest back against the folded cloth beneath him.

"Still progress," he replied.

A few steps away, Fritz lay propped against a crate, armor stripped away in pieces. Jay split his attention cleanly, Essence branching without thinning as he worked over Fritz's battered leg and shoulder.

Fritz clenched his jaw once as the last of it settled, then flexed slowly.

"…Yeah," he said after a moment. "That's a lot better."

Jay sagged a fraction, catching himself on the edge of the table.

"Good," he muttered. "Because I'm not doing that again for a bit."

Ryn let the words settle.

Then, slowly, he realized something else had changed.

Carefully, he lifted his eyelids.

The world rushed back in all at once.

The torchlight stung, sharp and unfamiliar, forcing his eyes to shut again on reflex.

"—Hey," Jay said quickly. "Don't force it."

Ryn exhaled through his nose, jaw tightening as he tried again—slower this time.

He opened his eyes a fraction.

Though he couldn't make out the details, he could barely see vague outlines.

"…Blurry," Ryn murmured.

Fritz leaned closer, his presence easier to sense than see. "That's still better than nothing."

Ryn blinked deliberately, letting his eyes sting, letting the world hurt a little as it reminded him how it worked.

The curtains shifted.

He barely had time to register it before movement rushed into his blurred field of view.

"Ryn—!"

A familiar presence flooded the space in front of him. Even without clarity, he felt it immediately.

He stiffened in surprise as someone leaned in close enough that he could feel her breath. Her hands braced at the back of his collar as she stared straight into his eyes.

"Oh, thank Rhea that wasn't permanent," Amelia said, relief spilling out unfiltered.

There was a beat.

Then she froze.

Her arms loosened.

She stepped back half a pace, cleared her throat, and straightened her posture.

"…Ahem," Amelia said. "Good. You're awake."

Jay snorted.

Fritz turned away very pointedly, one hand covering his mouth.

Taylor sighed, but a grin formed on her face.

Though the atmosphere didn't last for long.

Amelia stepped closer, arms folding as she sat on the nearby chair. She saw the tension that he still couldn't quite let go of.

"…What happened?" she asked.

Ryn leaned back against the support behind him, exhaling slowly.

"There are two things we found within Central."

That alone was enough to still the room.

"The first," Ryn continued, "is that the Bloodmanes weren't always this ruthless. Or this overt."

Fritz frowned and then nodded.

"They're being supplied with a strength enhancement drug."

With that, Ryn reached into his ring and withdrew a small vial.

Black liquid sloshed quietly inside, thick and unnaturally uniform. It clung to the glass instead of settling, like it resisted being still.

Jay's eyes widened the instant he saw it.

"It looks…" He hesitated, leaning closer. "Almost uncannily alive."

"Apparently," Ryn said evenly. "Before this drug, Kharvos was a nobody. Strong, maybe…but unrecognized even by the Bloodmanes."

He let that sit.

"So there's only one conclusion to draw," Taylor said quietly, fingers resting against her chin.

Ryn nodded. "It didn't originate in Dheam."

Amelia's expression hardened.

"…An outside source."

Ryn didn't correct her. Mentioning the Cult here would cause unnecessary anxiety, he decided. Amelia would understand anyway.

He let the silence last for a moment longer before continuing.

"Which leads to the second thing we learned," he said.

"Kharvos has declared a peace conference with the Outside tribes."

That got reactions immediately.

Confusion first and foremost.

Ryn turned his head slightly.

"Heard anything about that?" he asked, directing it at those who had stayed behind in Moonlight.

Jay blinked. "No. Nothing."

Taylor shook her head slowly. "Not even rumors worth following up on."

Ryn broke the silence.

"Kharvos probably didn't announce peace because he wants it," he said.

Jay looked up. "Then why announce it at all?"

Ryn's unfocused gaze shifted slightly, as if he were tracking a map only he could see.

"The Bloodmanes aren't unified," he said. "They never were."

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "You think this was for them."

"For the ones who wanted out," Ryn replied. "The ones who were tired of constant pressure. The ones who thought peace was possible."

Taylor's fingers tapped once against her arm.

"So he gives them hope."

Ryn nodded.

"Just enough to make them surface."

He exhaled slowly.

Fritz turned, frowning as the pieces clicked together.

"I get that he needed to unify the Bloodmanes," he said slowly. "But why even drag in the ones who are uncooperative?"

"It's simple," he said. "So he can wipe out every obstacle in Dheam in one move."

Silence lingered after that.

Not the awkward kind.

The kind where everyone in the room was already thinking the same thing and didn't want to be the first to say it.

Jay broke it.

"…So," he said carefully, "what do we do now?"

"That's… the hard part," Ryn replied.

"If we openly defend Moonlight," he continued, "we'll get flaked for meddling in Dheam's problems—when their supposed 'leader' is already here."

Taylor grimaced. Jay's shoulders tensed.

"And if we do nothing," Fritz said, voice tightening, "then why are we even here?"

Ryn didn't snap back.

"We can't protect Moonlight by standing in front of it," he said at last. "And we can't stop Kharvos by challenging him directly."

He shifted slightly, fingers tightening against the armrest.

"If we meddle," Ryn continued, "it has to look like it came from Dheam itself."

Fritz frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"It means we don't choose sides," Ryn replied. "We change the balance."

Amelia's eyes sharpened. "You want the outer tribes to act on their own."

"Yes," Ryn said. "Autonomy."

"You can't be serious," Jay said quietly. "These people are barely surviving. How can they oppose Kharvos?"

Ryn went silent.

Then, his eyes subconsciously drifted.

To the vial in his palms.

Black liquid sloshed softly inside the glass, clinging to the sides like it was listening.

"I have an idea," he said quietly.

"But you're not going to like it."

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