Caly.
He’s standing near one of the exit routes, half shadowed by the strange, twisted growth that marks the edge of Dathanor, and for a second, it throws me—not because he looks different, but because something about him feels… off. The absence hits first. There’s no Jamie at his side, no kid hovering nearby, filling the space with questions or commentary or that steady presence he seemed to bring out of Caly without even trying.
But it’s more than that.
Caly is still.
Not in the usual observant way I’ve come to expect, but quieter than that. Closed off in a way that doesn’t quite sit right.
Then I clock it properly.
He’s armed.
Not casually, not in the way everyone else is right now with weapons within reach just in case. He’s fully kitted out, prepared with a level of intent that doesn’t match the rest of the settlement’s defensive posture.
That tells me everything I need to know.
“Going somewhere?” I ask as I step closer.
He turns his head towards me, those vivid blue eyes settling on me with that same bright intelligence, but there’s something heavier sitting behind it now that wasn’t there before.
“Yes,” he says simply.
I stop a few feet away, glancing briefly towards the exit behind him before looking back. “Right,” I say slowly. “That doesn’t exactly scream ‘quick errand.’”
A faint curve touches his mouth, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “No,” he agrees.
I let out a slow breath, studying him properly now. “You’re leaving.”
It’s not a question.
“Yes.”
There it is.
I don’t challenge it.
I could. I could point out the timing, the risk, the fact that we’re likely to get hit again soon, but I don’t. I saw him yesterday, how he held Jamie, the way he let him go. That wasn’t nothing.
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Figured.”
He watches me for a moment like he’s waiting for pushback, for resistance that never comes, and something in his posture eases just slightly when I don’t give it.
“I am not abandoning the cause,” he says.
“I didn’t think you were.”
That earns a glint of emotion close to relief… maybe gratitude for not thinking badly of him.
“I will return to the city,” he continues. “There is information there we require. Movement. Patterns. The Crown’s intentions.”
I frown slightly, because yeah—that tracks, but it doesn’t make it any less dangerous. “That’s risky as hell,” I say.
“Yes.”
I study him again, taking in the calm certainty in the way he holds himself. “You sure you’ll be okay?” I ask, my tone all concern.
He tilts his head slightly, considering me. “I have spent time in the city before,” he says. “More than most here realise.”
