The house felt different without Vexer in it.
Three couldn't explain why, since nothing had changed. The furniture was the same, the light still came through the same windows, and the same quiet morning still existed outside. But it didn't feel the same, making it seem like something had been removed from the house and the space hadn't decided what to become yet.
He found Sigil on the back porch.
His father sat on the steps with a cup in his hand that was warm but untouched. Sigil didn't look up right away, just shifted slightly when Three came out and made space beside him.
Three sat down, and for a while, neither of them spoke.
The island moved like it always did, with the birds, wind, and distant rustling of trees. Everything was normal enough to be uncomfortable.
"Are you hungry?" Sigil asked.
"No."
Sigil nodded once and looked away again, letting the silence come back immediately.
"Is Mom okay?" Three asked after a while.
"She's resting," Sigil said as he turned the cup slowly. "She'll be fine."
Three pulled his knees up and stared at his hand. The ring caught his attention again, and he realized he had been looking at it too often since morning without meaning to.
"He's not coming back soon, is he?"
It wasn't really a question.
"No," Sigil said after a moment. "Not soon."
Three exhaled through his nose and leaned back slightly.
Sigil watched him for a while, like he was deciding something, before setting the cup down.
"I need you to listen properly."
Three looked at him.
"I am listening."
"No," Sigil said. "Not your usual listening. The kind where you don't try to escape it halfway."
Three frowned.
"I don't do that."
"You do."
That shut him up for a second.
Sigil looked out at the trees again.
"The Starborn Clan is not just old. It's the oldest thing still standing in this world. Everything else came after."
Three glanced at him.
"That sounds like a brag."
"It's not," Sigil's voice stayed flat. "It's a problem."
He picked up a small stone from the step and rolled it between his fingers.
"Every generation of us produces monsters by this world's standards, people who can reshape things just by deciding to. And every generation, we lose them anyway."
Three's gaze dropped to the ring again.
"So we just keep losing them."
"We keep losing the strongest ones," Sigil corrected. "Not the clan."
A pause stretched between them.
"There was a time when that almost stopped being true."
Three looked up at that.
"What happened?"
Sigil's jaw tightened slightly.
"We got too comfortable being at the top. The world doesn't like that. A war came, not just one battle, but a long one. We nearly didn't survive it."
Three stayed quiet now.
"We lost a lot, enough that after it ended, we stopped stepping out. We withdrew, letting the world keep its distance so fear could do the work instead of us."
"And that worked?" Three asked.
"For a thousand years," Sigil said. "People remember what we cost them."
He didn't say Vexer's name, but it was there anyway, and Three heard it.
"And now he's gone," Three said.
Sigil didn't answer immediately, looking out at the sky instead.
"Dad," Three said, sharper now. "Don't do that thing where you stop talking and hope I forget the question."
A faint shift crossed Sigil's face.
"You sound like your grandfather."
"Answer me."
A pause followed.
"The world has been waiting," Sigil said finally. "Not for permission or a reason, but just for timing."
He looked down at his hands.
"We have things people want."
Three stared at him.
"So they're coming."
Sigil didn't deny it.
"Dad."
"We don't know the exact moment."
"That's not what I asked."
Silence fell again, and then Sigil nodded once.
"They're likely coming."
Three turned away immediately, staring at the yard as his fingers tightened around his knees without him noticing.
"So what's the point of telling me this?" he said quietly. "I can't do anything since I didn't awaken. I'm just here. What am I supposed to do with that except be scared?"
Sigil didn't respond right away, picking up the stone again.
"When that war happened, there was no single person who saved us. There was just one person who refused to accept that we would fall. That was it. No grand power, just a decision that the clan would continue."
He set the stone down.
"That was enough to change everything."
Three stared at the stone.
"That sounds like something you say to someone who can't fight," he muttered.
"It is," Sigil said immediately, making Three look at him again.
Sigil didn't look away.
"I'm not going to lie to you. You didn't awaken, and that matters. I'm not going to pretend it doesn't."
A brief pause passed.
"But survival in this clan has never been about just strength. If it was, we wouldn't still be here."
Wind moved through the grass behind them, and Three stayed quiet for a long time.
"Are we going to be okay?" he asked finally, his voice coming out smaller than he wanted.
Sigil looked at him, then reached over to place a hand on the back of Three's head. It wasn't heavy, just there.
"I'm going to make sure of it," he said.
There was no promise beyond that and no certainty dressed up as hope.
Three didn't respond, simply leaning forward slightly as they stayed there.