Selena did not say anything when she left the cave.
She simply finished what she was doing, wiped her hands clean, and walked out without asking for permission, without offering explanation.
The air outside felt different against her skin no, as though the world itself had begun to respond to something she had not fully come to understand yet.
The forest was quieter than it should have been.
Not empty.
Not still.
Just…watching.
She moved through it without hesitation, her steps steady, her thoughts anything but. The image of their faces lingered at the edges of her mind—the way they had looked at her, not with accusation this time, not with cold dismissal, but with something unfamiliar.
Concern.
It unsettled her more than their anger ever had.
Because she didn't trust it.
