After finishing Steelbound, I turned my attention to the second picture prompt for the month. When I encountered the image, my thoughts returned to a story I wrote in August of 2025 titled Keeper’s Flame. That memory arrived fully formed, carrying with it Kaelyn’s final line and the quiet weight it left behind. The moment it resurfaced, I knew this tale could not stand alone. It needed a return to the coast and a continuation of the story the Emberglass already began.
After her union with the Emberglass, dawn returns to the shore without hesitation. The sun rises as if nothing has changed, gilding the water and softening the sky, indifferent to the violence that came before it. Yet the coastline does not greet the light untouched. Timber lies splintered where it once stood firm, and the sea moves differently now, as though it remembers what the land would rather forget.
Power leaves marks long after it is claimed. Some are visible, such as scorched wood and fractured stone, the scars of force made manifest. Others linger unseen, carried in silences held too long and glances turned away with care. What is taken in desperation cannot be returned without consequence, and what is awakened does not wait for permission to exist.
This is the space between defense and reckoning. Between those who upheld tradition and the one who chose action when restraint failed. The tide still rises, the council still watches, and judgment, once deferred, has finally found its way to shore.
As the first rays of sunlight pierced the horizon, the waters rose in bands of gold and pulses of red. While sunrise was unchanged from the previous day, the shoreline bore the damage left by the Emberglass’s arrival. Kaelyn drifted down to the remnants of the pier, tapping a fractured plank at her feet.
The tide crashed against the coast as water burst through the splintered wood. The remains from the dock jutted out over the bay like broken ribs. Some planks were blackened and warped by the magic that defended her people. She drew a deep breath and let the shoreline bear witness. The whispered conversation came to a peak just before footfalls emerged from the woods behind her.
Kaelyn grinned as she squatted down, running her fingertips along the shattered plank. “Did you come as a councilor, or as a friend?”
He pulled up, wiping his brow before stepping forward. “Why’d you return? The council knows you saved everyone, including them, but they’re still furious that you squandered the Emberglass.”
Kaelyn plucked a splinter off the board and rose, staring at the sliver clenched between her fingers. She turned it around while keeping her back toward the approaching individual. “Edrin, did you forget who I am now?”
Edrin approached, his feet crunching upon the debris littering the shoreline near the ruined pier. He paused beside her and stared out at the gleaming sunrise. “I helped you get the Emberglass. Though I didn’t expect it to bind with you.”
“That’s because you weren’t willing to discover the truth.” Kaelyn turned toward Edrin, tossing the splinter over her shoulder. “Don’t blame me for embracing it myself.”
“I’d suggest you abandon that argument. The council will respond the only way it knows how.” His gaze drifted away from her, lingering on the devastated wharf. “Are you going to rebuild the pier? I’m assuming you’re capable of fixing what you ruined.”
“I protected it!” Kaelyn gripped Edrin’s shoulder and yanked him toward her, flames flickering behind her eyes. “Those marauders would’ve overrun us if I hadn’t embraced and unleashed the power of the Emberglass!”
“I know.” Edrin freed himself from her grasp. He glanced away, clenching his fists. “It’s the reason why I helped you.”
Kaelyn straightened, the fire in her eyes dimming. She released her pent-up breath and laid her hand on his shoulder. Wind rushed in from the sea, catching her hair and cloak, both fluttering in the sudden gust. With a gentle squeeze, she leaned in. “They’ll call your choice a grave act of betrayal.”
“You’re not making a bold prediction. They see anything contrary to their demands in that light.” His gaze shifted toward the town as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sure the council members you embarrassed have run straight to Harvek. Once they detail everything you did with the Emberglass, he will march down here to confront you.”
“Are your actions today any different?”
Edrin swallowed a lump in his throat as he turned away. “I came to understand what you did. Not provoke you. After ensuring you’d get the Emberglass, I’m not about to argue with what you’ve done.”
Kaelyn crossed her arms as she lifted from the ground, drifting in front of Edrin. “Does that mean you trust my judgement?”
As footsteps crunched against stone behind them, Edrin whirled around. Kaelyn shook her head and rose over her ally. Councilor Harvek stood a short distance away, his robes immaculate and orderly despite the wind. His gaze moved from the ruined pier to Kaelyn as she landed between him and Edrin.
Harvek’s eyes hardened, narrowing as they shifted to Edrin. “I wouldn’t have expected truth to surface where devastation reigned. The Emberglass was an artifact of great power, incapable of doing anything on its own. Had you not been steered to it, we would not have lost it for a generation.”
“You don’t want to press me, Harvek.” Kaelyn lifted off the ground as the wind intensified. “You and the council abandoned your duty. You chose caution in the face of danger. I chose survival.”
His gaze flicked from Edrin to Kaelyn. As his eyes studied the floating woman, he caught sight of a dancing flame embedded in her arm. “You didn’t steal the Emberglass. Someone allowed you to pocket it. Those truths will surface in time.”
Silence stretched between them, broken only by the churning tide. “I showed her what you buried, nothing more.”
A slight smile bloomed across Harvek’s face as his gaze dropped to the man standing before him. “That confirmation is enough to secure your expulsion from our ranks.”
Kaelyn crossed the space between them, lifting him by the collar. As her expression darkened, she hauled him off the ground. His feet thrashed about as if they were fish dangling from a line. The air tightened and chilled, the light racing along the water. “The Emberglass is no longer yours to debate or control.”
“It wasn’t yours to take.” Harvek gripped her vice-like grasp as his thrashing intensified. His gaze darted back to Edrin. “Though now I’m aware of how it learned your name.”
The ground trembled beneath Kaelyn, then tore open, forming a hollow deeper and wider than Harvek’s suspended body. As she positioned him over the abyss, the crashing waves grew. “You have no leverage here. I am the Emberglass! Its power answers me. I don’t fear the council anymore.”
She released Harvek, letting him fall into the hole. After he slammed into the ground, she hovered there, staring at the fallen figure. “Harm anyone under my protection, and the cost will come back to you tenfold.”
“Kaelyn, what are you doing?” Edrin rushed to the opening, dragging Harvek out before it could swallow him. He shielded the councilman, his eyes hardening. “This wasn’t supposed to be the outcome.”
She closed her fist as her hair and robe fluttered in the rising wind. Without a word, she turned and glided over the forest until she disappeared.