CAIRN POINT OF VIEW.

The silence in the healer’s hut didn’t last long.

It shifted slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, like the air itself had grown heavier after what had been said. The faint crackle of herbs burning in a clay bowl filled the space, mixing with the sharp scent of crushed leaves and something metallic beneath it, blood that hadn’t fully faded from the room.

It wasn’t uncomfortable.

But it wasn’t easy either.

It was the kind of silence that followed something ...