Chapter 206

Summer arrived not as relief, but as exposure.

Without snow, without storm, without scarcity sharp enough to unify them, the valley had nothing to push against but itself.

That was harder.

The aid sent east had consequences. Trade routes deepened. Messengers lingered longer. Stories moved both ways now—of the valley’s strange governance, of its refusal to centralize power, of its habit of questioning everything.

Some praised it.

Some mocked it.

A few tried to undermine ...