Athena lay awake long after returning to her room.
The fire had burned low, casting slow, shifting shadows across the stone ceiling. She watched them move without really seeing them, her mind replaying the conversation in the forest.
What if I don't have what they have?
What if I'm less?
The thought wouldn't leave her.
She turned onto her side and pulled the blanket closer, trying to settle the unease in her chest. The fortress was quiet at this hour. Heavy. Sleeping.
And then-
A sound tore through the night.
Low.
Deep.
Powerful.
Athena's body went rigid.
Her eyes snapped open as the sound echoed through the stone like distant thunder.
Another howl answered it.
Then another.
Then many.
The air in the room seemed to vibrate with it. The sound wasn't just outside the walls - it felt like it was inside her ribs, rolling through her chest and settling somewhere deep beneath her heartbeat.
She sat up without realizing she had moved.
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
The howls rose and fell together in a haunting harmony that made her skin prickle. Her breath came faster, her chest rising unevenly as something warm spread beneath her skin.
She pressed her hand to her sternum.
Heat bloomed beneath her palm.
Slow.
Steady.
Alive.
Tears filled her eyes before she understood why.
She wasn't scared.
She wasn't confused.
She felt... pulled.
Like the sound was calling to something inside her that had been waiting to hear it.
Her throat tightened painfully.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, drawn toward the window carved into the stone wall. She pushed it open slightly and let the cold night air rush in.
The forest below was dark, barely visible in the moonlight.
But the howls continued.
And with every one, the warmth in her chest deepened.
Her breathing slowed.
Her shoulders relaxed.
She felt calmer standing there than she had felt anywhere else in her life.
A strange, aching familiarity washed over her.
Like she had heard this before.
Long ago.
She closed her eyes.
And for a split second, an image flashed in her mind-
Tall trees.
Firelight.
Voices laughing.
A large shadow beside her.
Gone as quickly as it came.
Athena gasped softly and opened her eyes.
Her heart pounded harder now.
"What was that..." she whispered.
The howls faded slowly into the night, leaving behind a heavy silence.
But the warmth in her chest didn't disappear.
She slid down to sit on the floor beneath the window, hand still pressed over her heart as tears slipped silently down her cheeks.
She didn't know why she was crying.
Only that it felt like she had just heard something she had been missing her entire life.
Her voice came out as a whisper.
"Why does that sound feel like home..."