The decision to leave did not feel dramatic.
That was the part that unsettled me most.
There was no rush. No alarms. No shouting through the trees. No sudden fracture of peace that demanded immediate action. The camp woke the way it always had, slowly and deliberately, wolves stretching and shaking out stiff limbs, patrols rotating with quiet efficiency, fire coaxed back to life with practiced ease.
It looked normal.
Too normal.
But the forest no longer felt neutral.
It watched.
Not in the way predators watched prey. Not even in the way sentries watched borders. It was closer to recognition, like something that had learned our shape and was now tracking changes. The land did not resist us. It adjusted around us, subtle and accommodating, as if our movement had been anticipated.
Jac
