By midday, they were back on the road. The forest thinned out into long, quiet hills, patches of grass swaying in the breeze like they didn't know a war was coming. Kael walked ahead, boots crunching over dry earth, while Liora followed just behind silent, steady, lost in her own thoughts.
They hadn't said much since the morning. Not because there was nothing to say, but because some things didn't need words. Not right away.
Eventually, Liora broke the quiet.
"Do you ever write them down?" she asked.
Kael turned slightly. "Who?"
"The people we've lost."
He stopped walking. The wind caught his cloak, tugging at the edge like it wanted to pull him somewhere else. He stared out at the horizon open fields, a distant ridge, clouds gathering like slow thoughts.
"No," he said. "I don't need to. I remember all their names."
She stepped up beside him. "Even the ones from the beginning?"
He nodded. "Especially them."
Liora lowered her eyes. "I forget sometimes. Not the faces, but the sounds of their voices. What they laughed at. What made them angry. I hate that."
Kael looked at her, really looked at her. She looked tired in a way that went deeper than her bones. Tired in her soul. He knew the feeling.
"I remember Alden used to whistle before every fight," he said quietly. "He said it kept his hands from shaking."
Liora blinked. "He used to call me 'Featherfoot' because I moved too quietly."
Kael gave a faint smile. "He called me 'Grimface.' Said I made sunshine nervous."
They both laughed soft, surprised. It wasn't a happy laugh, but it was real.
Then Kael reached into his satchel and pulled out a scrap of parchment, stained and creased. He handed it to her.
It was a list. Names, written in sharp, deliberate script.
"You said you didn't write them down," she said.
"I lied," Kael murmured. "I keep this close. Not for them. For me. To remember who I still fight for. Who I have to live better for."
Liora traced a name with her finger. "You missed mine."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "You're not lost."
She folded the parchment slowly, then handed it back. "Not yet."
They stood there in the open, with ghosts behind them and battles ahead, the parchment a thin, fragile thing between their fingers.
And as the wind moved on, Kael tucked the list away, somewhere close to his heart.
Because remembering wasn't just about grief it was about honoring the ones who couldn't walk beside them anymore.
And in that act, maybe, they were still walking too.