Tucan materialized in the Edge of Eternity, the void recoiling from his presence. Hafa stood amid the frozen debris of his past, her fire dimmed but defiant.
"Come to gloat?" she spat. "Or finish what you started?"
He said nothing, tossing her a time-lens. It showed the Bleached Pass, her father's armor crumbling to ash.
Hafa's flames flickered. "You… killed him?"
"Yes."
She stared, then laughed—a sharp, brittle sound. "Congratulations. Now you're the monster they all say you are."
"I've always been a monster," he said quietly. "But you… you were never a servant."
He shattered her chains with a flick of his wrist. "The Fire Kingdom's throne is empty. Your throne."
The Crown of Flames
The Fire Kingdom's nobles gathered in the scorched throne room, their eyes darting between Hafa and Tucan.
"A servant queen?" sneered Lord Varek, her uncle. "The Fire God will curse us!"
Hafa's palm ignited, flames licking the obsidian floor. "The Fire God is dead. I am here."
Tucan stood in the shadows, silent. His presence alone was a threat, a reminder that time itself bent to his will. Yet Hafa needed no protector.
"Swear fealty," she commanded, "or join my father in the ash."
One by one, they knelt.
The Clans' Fury
The Timeless Kingdom's hall erupted when Tucan returned with Hafa at his side.
"You freed her?" Lady Veyra hissed. "After her sabotage? Her defiance?"
"She is Fire Queen now," Tucan said, his voice glacial. "An ally, not a hostage."
General Kael's scarred face twisted. "Allies don't belong in our court. Send her back!"
Hafa stepped forward, her crown glinting. "Try me."
The Shadow of the Veils—Lira—drifted closer, their voice a whisper. "A queen in our halls… How poetic. And how dangerous."
The Secret in the Ashes
That night, Hafa found Tucan in the clocktower, staring at a lens of her father's death.
"Why keep me here?" she asked. "You could've sent me to rule. Ended the whispers."
"The clans would revolt," he admitted.
"And you care?"
He turned, his eyes ancient. "I care that you live. In the Fire Kingdom, assassins lurk in every shadow. Here, I can protect you."
"Protect me?" She laughed. "Or cage me?"
The lens flickered, revealing a hidden truth: the Fire King's body had vanished from the ashes.
"Wait—" Hafa frowned. "Did you see this?"
Tucan's silence was answer enough.
The Shadow's Whisper
Lira cornered Hafa at dawn, their hood thrown back to reveal a face Hafa recognized—Kael's estranged daughter, a mixed-born warrior exiled years ago.
"You think him a savior?" Lira hissed. "He hides the truth. Your father lives."
"Liar," Hafa snarled.
Lira pressed a shard of charred armor into her hand—still warm. "Search the Bleached Pass. See what your king erased."
The Storm Gathers
As Hafa rode to the Bleached Pass, Tucan confronted the clans.
"Plot against her," he warned, "and I will unmake your lineages. Your bloodlines will end as dust."
But in the shadows, Lira smiled.