ones of the earth. Her mother knelt in awe, tears streaming down her face-not of fear, but recognition. Somewhere

the walls and roots themselves. Then, slowly, tendrils of silver mist curled from the

spered: You have

emory. Her eyes fluttered closed, and a symbol-a spiral of wind encircling a sin

d the earth again, s

her mother and

ugh the girl's lips never moved, her

ma. I remember now.

gasped, una

but with thoughts carried by the air itself. The power was ancient, once used by the Windcal

d to the side, one they hadn't seen before - narrower, woven with v

rk and breeze. Eyes

leaves. "But the forest is fractured, and the silence is spreading. More

nto her mother's. Her eyes, fierce and

r the first time

anguage loomed above, their trunks carved with runes that pulsed faintly as Aria passed. The figure who guided t

fragment: a name,

est of

here, learning not only to speak with the wind but to listen to the truths buried in silence.

ched a c

time. Between them, faint trails of light flickered lik

ce soft but strong, "you wi

single feather in her palm - not from a bird, but from something greater,

- not hers, but t

. - A girl who sang seedlings from stone. - A war of s

ands clenched the feather, and a breeze

ememb

natural. It had b

forest and hidden them in the Hollow

ia. If the Hollow Wind spreads, nothing will sing aga

steady now

yes g

she said, not with her m

the clearing, felt it in her bones

the silence, the dark

it

t, the wi

anger - b

he feather. In dreams, she stood at the edge of a canyon where sound fell and never returned. The Hollow Wind

oke at

hough holding its breath. E

- a branc

uickly. The guide turned, st

w and sunlight, and his feet made no sound as he stepped into the clearing. His ey

r head. "You walk

gaze fixe

he wind," he said. "It

ood, un

m both, and something passe

lt and open

cold as silence. It pulsed with a rhythm n

from the sky the night it woke. My village... it stop

the stone, th

she whispered i

nod

as. The Hollow tries to take even t

nish. He did

nd touched the sto

h was o

lit the sky and the air turned

knew they