The City of First Light shimmered beneath a velvet sky, its towers glowing like quiet promises.
Though night had long since fallen, the city was wide awake, alive with possibility, humming with a new kind of stillness that felt anything but idle.
Something moved beneath the surface of the dreamwoven streets. A soft vibration, subtle yet insistent, like the breath of the world caught mid-inhale.
The leaves on the whispering trees trembled with anticipation. The air tasted charged, full of unsaid words and unseen revelations. It was as though the land itself knew that tonight, something would change.
Ariella stood alone at the balcony of the observatory, fingers curled around a cup of starroot tea, the steam trailing like a sigh toward the stars. Her gaze wasn't on the horizon, nor the glowing paths below—but on a single point above.
One star.
Hers.
The one that had been absent on the night of Eleanor's ascension, missing when she needed it most.
