The exchange was already tipping past the point of recovery for Tauriel when the air above her split open.
A tear tore into existence directly overhead—clean, abrupt, and violently cold. Absolute zero roared downward in a single expanding wave. Frost exploded across every surface of the ruined cabin. The temperature collapse was so severe that residual moisture in the air crystallized mid-fall. Tauriel had only a fraction of a second to react.
