AISLYNThe burial takes place three days later.

Not because ceremony requires time, but because order does.

In Redmoon, death does not halt governance. It is folded into it, measured, managed, and carried forward with the same discipline as any other necessity. Ashlyn’s body is prepared without embellishment. No adornments. No symbols of rank. She is dressed plainly, wrapped in the pack’s burial cloth, undyed linen meant to return cleanly to the earth. The bullet wound is concealed, not out ...