Dawn crept slowly across the Badlands.
Kel was already awake.
He sat beside the remains of the campfire, staring at his open palm.
Last night—
something had moved through it.
Not enough to see.
Not enough to burn.
But he had felt it.
Chest.
Shoulder.
Arm.
Palm.
A path.
Kel slowly closed his fingers.
The warmth was gone now.
Only the memory remained.
Behind him, Luno groaned beneath his blanket.
"You're doing the hand thing again."
Kel looked over.
"You're supposed to be asleep."
"I was."
Luno rolled onto his other side.
"Then I felt you thinking too loud."
Kel stared at him.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does when you do it."
Kel shook his head.
"Go back to sleep."
Luno immediately did.
Kel looked toward the dark ridges beyond camp.
Nothing moved.
No watcher.
No warning from the current beneath his skin.
Somehow—
that bothered him more.
The caravan moved shortly after sunrise.
Durnfield waited somewhere beyond the horizon.
The return journey had grown quieter.
Nobody complained about Unit Seven walking at the rear anymore.
Nobody called them Durnfield dirt rats.
The raid had changed that.
So had Luno.
Several guards now listened when he pointed something out.
Tracks.
Unusual movement.
Changes in the terrain.
Luno pretended not to notice.
Kel knew better.
"You like it."
Luno looked over.
"Like what?"
"People listening."
"I've always been worth listening to."
"That's not what I said."
Luno smiled.
"You're learning."
Kel shoved him lightly.
His ribs immediately reminded him why that had been a bad idea.
He winced.
Luno noticed.
"You should've let Solara heal you."
"She had people worse off."
"You had cracked ribs."
"Probably."
"That's not comforting."
Kel looked ahead.
"I'm walking."
"That also isn't comforting."
Despite himself—
Kel smiled.
For the first time since the raid, the road almost felt normal.
Almost.
Near midday, Roku dropped back through the formation.
Kel noticed immediately.
Luno did too.
"Your new friend."
Kel sighed.
"He's not my friend."
Roku stopped beside them.
"Harven's going to hear about both of you."
Luno straightened.
"Good things?"
Roku looked at him.
"Mostly."
Luno grinned.
Kel frowned.
"What's the bad part?"
"You don't follow orders particularly well."
Kel stared at him.
"I followed your orders."
"You also threw yourself under falling rocks."
"That happened before the order."
Roku considered that.
"Fair."
Luno covered his mouth to hide a laugh.
Roku's expression became more serious.
"You two did well."
Kel said nothing.
Neither did Luno.
Roku looked between them.
"What?"
Luno blinked.
"Nothing."
"You look confused."
"We're not used to people saying that."
Roku's expression changed slightly.
Not pity.
Understanding.
"Get used to it."
Then he walked toward the front.
Luno stared after him.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
Kel saw it.
"No."
"He likes us."
"He said we did well."
"Exactly."
"That isn't the same thing."
"First stage."
"Of what?"
"Friendship."
Kel walked faster.
Luno followed.
"You can't run from this."
Solara passed them later.
She didn't stop.
She didn't need to.
Her eyes briefly met Kel's.
Then shifted toward his hand.
The same hand he had been practicing with the night before.
Kel understood the question.
He shook his head once.
Not again.
Solara nodded.
Then continued forward.
Luno watched the entire exchange.
He slowly turned toward Kel.
Kel kept walking.
"Don't."
"You two are communicating without talking now."
"Nothing happened."
"That's worse."
Kel ignored him.
Luno smiled to himself.
The rest of the afternoon passed peacefully.
No bandits.
No scouts.
No mysterious watcher.
By sunset—
Durnfield appeared.
The village rose from the dust exactly as Kel remembered it.
Broken walls.
Crooked rooftops.
Old wood.
Rust.
After Welther—
it somehow looked even poorer.
Even smaller.
Luno stared toward the gates.
"Home."
Kel looked at him.
"You sound happy."
"My bugs are tired of traveling."
"You're blaming the bugs?"
"They told me."
"Of course they did."
The gates opened.
Captain Harven stood waiting.
Several Durnfield guards gathered behind him.
His eyes moved across the returning column.
The patched wagon.
The bandages.
The damaged shields.
Then—
Kel and Luno.
Harven's gaze lingered.
Not surprise.
Assessment.
Roku approached him first.
"Caravan delivered."
Harven nodded.
"Problems?"
"Scouts hit us in the ridge pass."
Harven's expression remained still.
"Then a larger group attacked during the return."
"How large?"
"Enough."
Harven looked toward the damaged equipment.
"Casualties?"
"Eight."
The answer sat heavily between them.
Harven lowered his head for a moment.
Then looked up.
"Could've been worse."
"It almost was."
Roku glanced toward Kel and Luno.
"Two of yours helped stop that."
Harven followed his gaze.
"I figured."
Roku raised an eyebrow.
"You figured?"
"I've been watching them longer than you."
Solara joined them.
"Watch closer."
Harven looked at her.
Solara's eyes moved toward Kel.
"He's awakening Internal Qi."
Harven went completely still.
Only for a moment.
But Solara noticed.
Roku noticed.
Harven recovered quickly.
"You sure?"
"No."
Solara's answer surprised him.
"But something is moving through his body."
"Instinctively," Roku added.
"He doesn't understand it."
Harven looked toward Kel.
The boy was helping another guard unload damaged equipment despite his ribs.
Luno stood beside him, talking far more than he was working.
Harven's expression became unreadable.
"And Luno?"
Roku looked toward Solara.
She answered.
"Observant."
Roku snorted.
"That's underselling it."
"He identified the bandit commander during the raid from his hand signals."
Harven's eyes shifted toward Luno.
This time—
his surprise was harder to hide.
Roku crossed his arms.
"They're rough."
Harven almost smiled.
"They're Unit Seven."
"But they're useful."
Harven looked at him.
"You keep saying that like you're offended."
Roku shrugged.
"I haven't decided yet."
Solara smiled faintly.
Harven looked toward both boys again.
"Get some rest."
Roku nodded.
Harven continued.
"I'll deal with them."
Kel heard that from across the yard.
He immediately frowned.
Luno leaned closer.
"That sounds threatening."
"It usually is."
The orphanage was louder that night than it had been in years.
Lanterns glowed behind cracked windows.
Children crowded around the center room.
And standing proudly on an overturned crate—
Luno told lies.
Technically—
exaggerations.
"And then there were at least a hundred!"
Kel leaned against the far wall.
"There weren't a hundred."
Luno ignored him.
"Maybe two hundred!"
"There definitely weren't two hundred."
The younger children stared wide-eyed.
"Arrows everywhere!"
Luno threw his arms outward.
"Roku's shooting lightning!"
He spun.
"Solara's blocking arrows!"
Then pointed dramatically toward Kel.
"And Kel runs straight into the middle of them!"
Kel closed his eyes.
"Why would you make me sound stupid?"
"Because that's what happened."
Several children laughed.
Luno jumped down from the crate.
"Then I find the commander."
He tapped his temple.
"Because I'm smart."
Kel opened one eye.
"That part you don't exaggerate?"
"Facts don't need exaggeration."
More laughter.
Luno climbed back onto the crate.
"And then Roku himself walks over."
His voice dropped dramatically.
Everyone leaned closer.
"And he looks at me."
Pause.
"Then Kel."
Another pause.
"And says—"
Luno deepened his voice terribly.
"'You two did well.'"
The room erupted.
Luno threw both hands up.
"ROKU ASTER!"
"He complimented us!"
Kel couldn't help smiling.
At least this version was true.
Mostly.
One younger child looked toward Kel.
"Are you going to be like him?"
The room quieted.
Kel's smile faded.
He thought about Roku's lightning.
Solara's Soul Qi.
The warmth moving through his own body.
"I don't know."
Luno looked at him.
Kel continued.
"But I'm going to get stronger."
That was enough.
The room erupted again.
Later—
the orphanage finally became quiet.
Children slept.
Lanterns dimmed.
Kel stood beside a cracked window.
The Badlands stretched beyond Durnfield.
Moonlight painted the dunes silver.
Kel raised his hand.
Breathed.
Waited.
Thump.
Nothing.
Again.
Thump.
Warmth.
Faint.
His eyes narrowed.
Chest.
Shoulder.
Arm.
Then—
gone.
Kel lowered his hand.
He wasn't disappointed.
Yesterday, he hadn't even known what he was searching for.
Now he did.
Internal Qi.
At least part of it.
Kel looked toward the moon.
He didn't feel like a hero.
Didn't feel special.
He felt like someone standing at the bottom of an enormous mountain.
Roku and Solara were already climbing.
Kel smiled faintly.
Fine.
He'd climb too.
Far across Durnfield—
one lantern remained lit.
Captain Harven sat alone inside the guard office.
Patrol reports covered his desk.
Casualty records.
Damage assessments.
Roku's written report.
Harven wasn't reading any of them.
Solara's words remained in his thoughts.
He's awakening Internal Qi.
Harven opened the bottom drawer.
For several seconds—
he simply stared inside.
Then he reached down.
A small object rested beneath old documents.
Wrapped in faded cloth.
Harven placed it on the desk.
Slowly—
he unfolded the covering.
A worn metal pendant lay inside.
Old.
Scorched along one edge.
Harven stared at it.
Years disappeared from his face.
For a moment—
he wasn't Captain Harven.
He was simply a man remembering a promise.
"I told you both I'd keep him out of this."
His voice barely carried through the empty office.
Outside—
wind scraped softly against the building.
Harven touched the scorched edge of the pendant.
"I kept him hidden."
A bitter smile crossed his face.
"Put him in the lowest unit."
"Gave him every reason to stay ordinary."
His smile disappeared.
"And he still found his way toward it."
Harven leaned back.
Kel's fights.
His impossible instincts.
His growing strength.
Now Roku Aster and Solara Veil had noticed him.
That changed things.
Attention traveled.
Stories traveled faster.
And eventually—
stories reached people Harven had spent sixteen years hoping would never hear them.
One name surfaced in his thoughts.
Dyrain.
Harven's jaw tightened.
"I wonder how long it'll take you."
His eyes returned to the pendant.
"How long before you hear he's here."
The lantern flickered.
Harven slowly wrapped the pendant again.
Then stopped.
His hand remained over it.
"And how long before you realize…"
His voice fell to a whisper.
"…he's starting to awaken."
Outside the office—
the Badlands wind carried dust through Durnfield's broken streets.
Past the orphanage.
Past Kel's window.
Out toward the endless dark.
Carrying with it a secret sixteen years in the making.
And somewhere beyond Durnfield—
the past had begun finding its way home.