The flame did not vanish.
It awakened.
Word traveled faster than riders and quieter than wind.
Across valleys and over old stone roads, whispers gathered in halls long accustomed to silence.
Something had changed.
The balance long preserved by restraint now trembled at its edges.
In a quiet valley where no council had ever convened, a current stirred beneath the earth - not violent, not chaotic - but widening.
And the Gathering would answer.