= Mikael =
Smoke still lingered in the air long after the flames had surrendered.
It clung to everything—the blackened rafters that no longer reached skyward, the scarred earth beneath my boots, even the edges of my clothes. I could taste it when I breathed, acrid and stubborn, weaving into the back of my throat and making each inhale a reminder of what had been lost. Tiny particles had worked their way into my hair, into the seams of my tunic, settling there like invisible witnesses that some things didn’t simply end when the fire went out. Some things burned on, quietly, relentlessly, even after the last lick of flame had vanished.
“They’ve contained it,” Lorne said, stepping up beside me, his voice careful, almost muted against the heavy silence.
His boots crunched over charred debr
