The forest exhaled.
With Merran gone and the Wildlings dissipated, the roots settled. The Deeproot Mirror stood calm again—no longer a threat, but a reflection. The Verdant Soul tree swayed gently in the magic-saturated air, its golden leaves whispering ancient lullabies.
But the Druid didn't feel peace.
She felt unfinished.
She sat at the base of the tree while Kaelen kept watch, silent and close.
The pendant around her neck no longer pulsed erratically—it had stabilized, warm and steady. Her totem no longer vibrated with uncertainty. Her marks had stopped burning.
And still…
Her name remained a mystery.
No title.
No sound.
Just absence.
"I feel like I've earned it," she whispered aloud, half to herself. "A name."
Kaelen didn't answer at first.
Then: "Maybe it's not a thing to remember."
The Druid looked up.
Kaelen shrugged, arms crossed. "Names can come from the past. But they can also come from who you've become."
The Druid looked to the Mirror.
Her reflection stared back—now cloaked in bark armor, sporeflowers still faintly glowing. Her eyes shimmered green-gold. Her hair was streaked with living vine.
She looked like a guardian of the world itself.
Like someone both old and new.
She stood.
Closed her eyes.
Whispered into the Verdant Soul tree:
"I am the one who sealed the gate.
Who walked the mirror.
Who chose mercy over power.
I am balance."
She placed her palm against the tree's bark.
A rush of warmth traveled through her chest—through her marks—through her soul.
A name rose from the roots.
Spoken not in her voice,
but in the forest's.
"Thalindra."
She opened her eyes.
And smiled.
Kaelen raised a brow. "That it?"
Thalindra turned to her. "That's me."
Kaelen smirked. "Bit fancy."
"I'm a Druid," Thalindra said, shrugging. "We like trees and drama."
Together, they ascended back through the tunnel, leaving the Mirror sealed, but glowing with the new light of choice.
The forest was no longer a maze.
It was a path.
And Thalindra—named, whole, and awakened—was ready to walk it.
Not just to find the rest of her scattered party…
But to finish what the first Circle began.
And to decide what the wild should become.