After some time, as the light outside softened and the town's rhythm slowed, they gathered back together in the inn's common room. The air smelled of warm bread and unfamiliar spices, and the murmur of many-legged steps echoed faintly through the stone floor.
Rose sat down across from Lira and Renkai, her usual calm dimmed. She wrapped her fingers around a cup she hadn't touched yet.
"I heard something," she said quietly.
Lira straightened at once. "What kind of something?"
Rose hesitated, then spoke. "In the mountains north of here… there's a cave. People don't go near it unless they have to. They say strange things happen there. Sounds carry where they shouldn't. Lights appear and vanish. Sometimes travelers swear they walk in for minutes and come out hours—or days—later."
Lira felt a familiar pull in her chest, subtle but insistent. "That sounds like a distortion," she said softly. "Or at least a weak point."
