Timeline: TC1853.04.03 (Dawn)
Location: Seven Peaks Territory, Eastern Valley
Raven stood at the valley's southern gate before dawn, waiting. Commander Drake's encrypted message had arrived yesterday: Package secure. Arriving dawn tomorrow. He's ready.
Six weeks since she'd last held her foster son. Six weeks of building impossible architecture while knowing Elian was safe with Drake's team in the Empire's capital, learning to heal from trauma that no six-year-old should ever experience.
She'd left him behind deliberately. The Luminous Dawn Sect had been too unstable then—defensive walls incomplete, disciples still settling in, too many variables that could threaten a Pillar Soul recovering from Federation torture. Better to let Drake's experienced team keep him safe in secure Guild facilities where no one would look for a dimensional anchor.
But now the walls thought for themselves. The disciples had proven trustworthy. The valley was as safe as anywhere on the planet could be.
