The Edge of the Known

ld life sat unto

he same way it had been that night. Her fingers curled around

e?" she murmured aloud, her breath

way time folded in on itself. And how she'd woken u

't. She kne

nse of purpose. The city was alive around her, but she wasn't part of it anymore. She moved through th

looked ordinary - cramped between the newss

eart bea

gripping the pendant. "Show

een still. The ivy on the wall shifted

r a second, like hea

ll where the door had been, and the moment she touched it, warmth surged up he

d her eye

t her chest - not hot, no

her eyes, the

vines thick with silver leaves, the scent of nigh

he threshold, her expr

e back,"

, breath steady. "Th

rustle of silver-tipped leaves brushing around her like whispers. The air shifted - no

. Her coat was dusted with the city's gri

h - not quite - but some

y looked at Maya, really looked, and her

ack," she s

t would work. But I... felt i

lf with a kind of instinctive defiance, even when unsure. A memory flickered in her mind: a young woman st

t like her,"

her head.

mined. A little reckless," Amara chuckled under her breath, the sound dry but warm. "She wore that

pendant. "She never told

her choose safety over truth. But she gave you the pendant for a reas

tched, not awkward, but full

on Maya's shoulder. "You've done well, child. Just arri

rd. "I don't know

e of us did, at first. But

something in her cracked - the tension she hadn't realized s

uiet breath...