The man did not introduce himself.
He did not step forward in a way that suggested urgency, nor did he react to our presence as if it required acknowledgment beyond what he had already given. Instead, he simply stood there, as though the forest itself had shaped around him, as though time had learned to move differently in his presence.
There was something unsettling about that kind of stillness.
Not because it felt dangerous, but because it felt certain.
Rowan did not speak immediately, and for a brief moment, neither did I. The silence stretched, but unlike the ones that had come before, this one did not feel heavy or unstable. It felt… intentional, as though it was part of something rather than the absence of it.
"You've been watching us," I said eventually, my voice steady, though I could feel the faint echo of that earlier sensation still lingering beneath my skin.
The man's gaze shifted slightly, not in surprise, but in quiet acknowledgment.
