Lantern light gilded the bones, turning them to gold.
The skin looked fine and human. The girl's nails were short and clean. Up close, the surface seemed…finished.
Not glossy, not waxen, but like something that didn't pick up dust because dust had learned not to try.
Sera didn't chase the thought further.
She watched the way the girl's eyes softened when Sera didn't flinch. She watched the way the man didn't look at the chain, didn't measure distances—he trusted the ritual to do that for him.
"Show me peace," Sera invited, not a dare, not a surrender—just a request to see a thing people made this much noise about.
The girl's breath came out like a prayer. Her fingers hovered a breath from the wood. Heat drank that last inch and made it feel like touch anyway.
For a second, something inside Sera went quiet the way a lake goes quiet when the wind stops.
Not still… but like there was a deep pool suddenly inside of her.
