Chapter 607 - Unpaid Gratitude

Within the lands that bordered the Kingdom of Tulmud and Lamar, the territory of the dark forest, a being moved. The canopy above pressed low, a lid of wet leaves and stitched shadow, and the earth held the weight of old roots like ribs. She passed through in a hush of layered cloth, bandages whispering against bandages, the sound small enough to be mistaken for wind. Smell of resin and damp bark followed her. Every tree she crossed seemed to lean away, not out of fear, but in the wary politeness given to something that should not need paths.