Location: Lower Realm - Campsite Off Trade Road
Date/Time: 7-8 Ashwhisper, 9938 AZI
Three more villages.
That was all it took.
Three more villages in two days of travel, and Jayde stopped pretending the Lower Realm's problems were someone else's to solve. The details blurred together—different names, same suffering. A child with a broken arm set wrong because the bonesetter charged in silver. A widow paying "protection fees" with the only thing she had left, while her neighbors looked away. A boy with Torrent affinity—real talent, the kind that could change his family's life—dragged to a wagon by men with ledgers and dead eyes.
Each time, Reiko dissolved into her shadow before they reached the village outskirts. Each time, she felt his fury pressing against the bond like water behind a dam. And each time, Yinxin's presence steadied them both—cool silver thread holding the bond together when the heat of it threatened to crack.
