Another long pause. Then, the soft rustle of fabric as she moved to stand beside him—not touching, but close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from her shoulder.

“You carry the Echo,” the child said. Her voice was a chorus of distant winds. “And the Broken Knife.” Her gaze settled on Kael’s hand, where a faint, silvery scar ran from his knuckle to his wrist—a mark he’d had since birth, one he’d always hidden. “You are not both supposed to be here.”

Mira stepped forward, the locket raised. “We came to break the Bond of Silence. The Throne City uses it to choke the outlying towns. We have the keystone.” She tapped the locket. “My grandmother said the Cloudlet would know how to destroy it.”

The rain in this chapter washes away the pretense. When the lights flicker or the sound of the storm drowns out the silence, Cloudlet is forced to confront the fact that she is not as alone as she thought she wanted to be. The protagonist’s refusal to retreat forces her to accept the reality of their bond.