Tuva nodded. "We stay long enough. Then we ride."
Lila did not approach him in the open. Neither did Elara. The separation they had chosen still governed the public space.
What had changed was simpler and harder: the meadows had a practical holder the old law now recognized, and every pack in the valley had watched the bloodline's southern edge answer a knife with something older and cleaner than politics.
The second torch burned down to the bracket.
Dawn had required a body.
The body had answered.
The formal session that followed the Wolf Claim did not wait for anyone's ribs to heal.
By midday the ordinary order of business had been abandoned. Too many packs wanted the practical result entered into the record before the Moot's remaining days could dilute it.
The hosting elder recognized the matter under the standing stones while Thorne still sat stiff-backed on the southern side of the ring with Tuva's shoulder close enough to take weight if he needed it.
