Chapter 76 : Before the Roads Split

They sat around a real table for once.

Not a stone. Not a tree stump. Not the dirt floor of a forest clearing scorched by a campfire.

Just a warm, solid table inside the dining hall of a modest inn—lit by soft lanternlight and filled with the quiet clinking of cutlery, the distant hum of conversations, and the faint scent of herbs simmering from the kitchen.

Dirga. Kaela. Saelari.

Finally… resting.

Saelari leaned forward, brushing her silver hair back behind one ear. "So… how's the food?" she asked, her voice casual.

It was the first proper meal any of them had eaten in weeks. No dry rations. No foraged roots. No barely-roasted meat.

Kaela answered instantly. "Goooood," she said with a mouthful, eyes sparkling with joy as she stabbed at another portion on her third plate. "So good."

She looked like she'd come back to life just for the taste. Even ordered dessert.