The Visitor at Dusk

The sun had dipped just low enough to cast long shadows on the courtyard.

Michael leaned against the outer wall, etching flame sigils into the dust, the end of his stave. Arion leaned next to him, halfway through with the tale of a training accident that Kael definitely would not confirm. Somewhere in the back garden, Kael herself trained in steady silenceblade gliding over the training dummy's post.

And inside, Anna was stirring a pot of simmer-root tea, faintly humming under her breath.

Then came the knock.

Not hard. Not rushed. Just two decorative taps on the door.

Michael looked up. Anna said nothing — just wiped her hands, calmly walked to the door, and opened it.

The man on the other end looked … unexceptional.

Late forties. Neatly clothed in neutral robes, edged with fine silver thread. His eyes were pale, though not cold. There was no weapon. No flare of power. No spirit beside him.

But still

Anna stilled.

Because the house was colder with him standing in the doorway.

He bowed not low, not mockingly. Just enough to be polite.

"Anna of Pyrrhion," he said. "Michael. Kael. Arion. I bring a message."

Kael was already at the door, hand hovering next to her hilt.

The man didn't flinch.

"A killer who loses interest in conflict."

Anna did not ask him in. "Then hurry up.

He smiled faintly. "My lady wishes it to be known that she holds no ill will toward your city. Your intentions are ridiculous but have not yet done damage.'

Then Arion came up next to Michael. "Yet?"

The man nodded slightly. "You are near something that she has worked so hard to sustain. She tells you politely, and with finality to leave."

Michael's jaw tightened. "Or?"

The man's eyes found his. And for a second, the world seemed … thinner.

"Or she's not going to keep looking the other way!"

Silence came after his words.

No threats. No boasting. Just truth.

He stepped back once.

"My name is not important. But she will know if you pay attention."

He bowed again to Anna.

Then walked away.

No vanishing act. No spell.

Just footsteps dissolving into dusk.

Anna was silent for several seconds. And then she looked to the others, gaze clear.

"We're not changing course."

Kael nodded once. "Didn't think we would."

Arion said softly, "So she knows us."

Michael exhaled. "You know how does seem you both being out there watched."

.No one slept that night.

The man's visit had envisioned no scars, no broken walls, no blood. Just a sentence.

She will stop playing nicely.

Michael sat by the firepit, arms spread lightly over his knees. Arion strode up and down by the window, silent, pondering. Kael wiped her blade for the third time, for beat more than keen.

Anna walked out of her study and into the middle of the room.

There were no words spoken, but every eye settled upon her.

And she didn't shout.

She didn't pace. She didn't lecture. She just put her hands in her lap and the room adjusted as if someone had angled gravity in her direction.

"I know some of you are saying we should be pulling back," she said. "You won't say it. But you've thought about it. That maybe this isn't our war.

Michael looked up. So did Kael. Arion stilled.

Anna continued.

"You're right. It isn't. We didn't ask for it. We didn't choose it. And we are unprepared for what's ahead."

Then she took a breath quiet, calming, sharp.

"But we're already in it."

Her gaze swept over each of them —not a challenge, just seeing.

"They know our names. They know our strengths. They know where we live. And, more importantly… they know we care."

She moved closer to the fire.

"I have spent lifetimes watching good people wait too long. Fear the author of their silence Convincing themselves 'This isn't my time.' Until there is no one left to speak."

She looked at Michael last.

"Whatever she is… whoever she was… Eidara thinks the world is better without people like us. Those who enter the stillness. Whose response is no one else hears.

Then Anna knelt by the fire, not as a general or a prophet but as a woman who had made up her mind.

"She told us to not get involved."

She extended her hand — and lifted the flame some to meet her palm.

"I say we step in."

Silence followed.

Then Kael stood. "I'll sharpen the others."

"We'll need maps," Arion said.

Michael didn't move.

He just looked at her.

And understood that however many lives she'd lived

This one was the one she'd be at the helm.