Chapter 359: The First Word
Mira woke him before dawn on the fifth day.
She did not touch him. She never did. She said his name once, low, and that was always enough.
"It moved," she said.
Kai was up before he had fully placed the word. "Moved how?"
"Not the gathering. That's still just tightening, the same as every morning." She held the shell out, and the light in it was not pointing down anymore. It was flickering — on, then off, then on again, fast, like something testing whether the air would let it speak. "Something under the frame just tried a sound. One syllable. Gone before I could hold it." She closed her hand around the shell. "It's never done that before. Not even close."
Kai sat with that a moment, the cold morning air working its way into the question.
"Soren's projection said weeks," he said. "Maybe a month or two."
"Soren's projection was right yesterday."
