The Mahu Forest
To pry the last ritual piece from a forest that answers theft with collapse, the seekers must pay the price the Mahu demand — and for the first time, Elsa Jones is standing on their side of the argument, not Salugi's.
Siru, Marcus and Vivek push into the Mahu Forest to claim the final component the Bridge-wake ritual needs, only to find the grove already dying from an old debt never repaid. The Mahu Guardians refuse to let anything more leave unbalanced — and Elsa Jones arrives, unarmed and unannounced, to argue exactly what the Mahu are arguing. As blight spreads through the root-ways faster than anyone can outrun it, Vivek's need for speed collides with Siru and Elsa's insistence on paying what is owed. The only way through is the forest's oldest rite: replant what the wake will cost, together, before the storm drowns the seedbed. They finish in time — but Vivek's slip about a deadline that isn't 2086 leaves the group looking at him the way they've never looked at him before.