Jade Goldlight's Arc

Chapter 18 of 20

Jade turned back once before the path bent toward home. The dead tree stood different now. Its bark had swallowed the torn pages whole, but faint shapes pressed up under the gray skin like words trying to speak. Curled paper edges showed at the seams. Jade frowned. She had wanted silence, not a scar that whispered. She walked back and laid her palm flat against the trunk. Raihan watched from the grass, ears forward. Jade pushed her stone magic deeper, smoothing the bark until the paper shapes faded under solid stone. The tree went quiet. She stepped away, hands steady. Hal was ended, sealed, and hers alone to carry. Tomorrow the village would call her name again, and this time she would answer as someone who had finished a fight no one knew about.