Chapter 25
Chapter 26: The Thread That Awakens
David wakes from a dream of Yoshua's first weaving. The group discovers a new pattern in the weave—a memory thread left by the betrayer that reveals the origin of its wound. Yoshua appears in the glade and guides David to understand that the betrayer was once a weaver who chose isolation out of fear. David must decide whether to offer compassion to the remnant, which changes the weave's tone from tension to fragile hope.
David woke to the smell of woodsmoke and the sound of Kathleen's steady breathing beside him. The fire had burned low, casting orange shadows across the cabin walls. For a moment, he lay still, letting the warmth of the blankets settle around him. His palm tingled where the gray stain had faded to a faint silver line, like a thread woven into his skin.
The dream came back to him in pieces. Yoshua, younger than he had ever seen him, standing at a loom made of light. His hands moved with a rhythm that was almost music, pulling threads of gold and silver from the air itself. But there was another figure in the dream—a shadow at the edge of the loom, watching. When Yoshua turned, the shadow fled, and the threads on the loom trembled.
David sat up, rubbing his eyes. The cabin was quiet. Kaelen slept by the hearth, his blade resting across his chest, his face softened in sleep. Dianne was curled on a cot near the window, her map draped over her like a blanket. Elara was not in her bed.
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