Kedra's stolen breath came down the Glass tower against the wind.
Warm air rushed upward through a forest of clear pipes, strong enough to shake Pava's braids loose from her collar. Inside one tube, the white strand crawled the other way. Frost formed ahead of it, carrying the words ONE WINTER AHEAD: FINAL FROST toward the healer ward below.
"It should be going out through the crown," Pava said. "Not coming back to my patients."
The breath passed a row of glass teeth. Each tooth chimed before the tower hammer reached the bell above. The hammer fell afterward and struck the notes Kedra's breath had already made.
Kedra gripped the shutter with her uninjured hand. Her next inhale stopped short.
"It remembers the strike before it happens," she said.
"Can it remember how to stop?" Hest asked.
