---
He had woken with his hand on the rock beside the first cradle and the hum of the eggs in his palm like the purr of a nest that would not cool while he breathed. He had watched Luna and Miryam sleep, then fed the little wyrmling the shining liquid, then sat and let quiet settle into the corners of him where the fight had been sharp. By midmorning the quiet had done its work. He needed to see with his own eyes the enemies that would try to come for him.
He left by a side path on the mountain's right shoulder, one of the narrow cuts he had walked when the stone was still learning his weight. He paused in the entrance long enough to tell Shadeclaw the truth and enough of a lie to make it easier to let him go.
"I am going to the right side," he said. "I want to look at the treeline. Alone."
Shadeclaw looked as if he had expected another word to follow that sentence. He did not argue. "Yes, King."
