The first thing he did was take everything away from her.
There was no warning, no preparation, and no transition into anything that could be called training. One moment Elara was standing in the quiet tension of the clearing, still adjusting to the unfamiliar weight of this place, and the next something inside her shifted so violently that it stole the air from her lungs.
The Moon.
It did not disappear entirely, but it withdrew with such force that the absence of it felt louder than its presence ever had. The warmth beneath her skin vanished, along with the quiet awareness that had been watching with her, guiding her in ways she had not fully understood until now. It felt as though a part of her had been severed, not cleanly.
Elara staggered, her hand instinctively pressing against her chest as if she could hold whatever had just been torn loose.
"What did you do?" she demanded, her voice sharp, edged with something dangerously close to panic.
