The house felt different without Vexer in it.
Three couldn't explain why. Nothing had changed. The furniture was the same, the light still came through the same windows, the same quiet morning still existed outside. But it didn't feel the same. It felt like something had been removed from it and the space hadn't decided what to become yet.
He found Sigil on the back porch.
His father sat on the steps with a cup in his hand. It was warm, but untouched. Sigil didn't look up right away, just shifted slightly when Three came out and made space beside him.
Three sat down.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The island moved like it always did. Birds, wind, distant rustling of trees. Everything normal enough to be uncomfortable.
"Are you hungry?" Sigil asked.
"No."
Sigil nodded once and looked away again.
Silence came back immediately.
"Is Mom okay?" Three asked after a while.
"She's resting." Sigil turned the cup slowly. "She'll be fine."
Three pulled his knees up and stared at his hand. The ring caught his attention again. He had been looking at it too often since morning without meaning to.
"He's not coming back soon, is he?" he asked.
It wasn't really a question.
"No," Sigil said after a moment. "Not soon."
Three exhaled through his nose and leaned back slightly.
Sigil watched him for a while, like he was deciding something. Then he set the cup down.
"I need you to listen properly," he said.
Three looked at him. "I am listening."
"No," Sigil said. "Not your usual listening. The kind where you don't try to escape it halfway."
Three frowned. "I don't do that."
"You do."
That shut him up for a second.
Sigil looked out at the trees again.
"The Starborn clan is not just old," he said. "It's the oldest thing still standing in this world. Not clan. Thing. Everything else came after."
Three glanced at him. "That sounds like a brag."
"It's not." Sigil's voice stayed flat. "It's a problem."
He picked up a small stone from the step and rolled it between his fingers.
"Every generation of us produces monsters by this world's standards. People who can reshape things just by deciding to." He paused. "And every generation, we lose them anyway."
Three's gaze dropped to the ring again.
"So we just keep losing them," he said.
"We keep losing the strongest ones," Sigil corrected. "Not the clan."
A pause stretched between them.
"There was a time," Sigil continued, "when that almost stopped being true."
Three looked up at that.
"What happened?"
Sigil's jaw tightened slightly.
"We got too comfortable being at the top. The world doesn't like that. It never has." He turned the stone in his hand. "A war came. Not one battle. A long one. We nearly didn't survive it."
Three stayed quiet now.
"We lost a lot," Sigil said. "Enough that after it ended, we stopped stepping out. We withdrew. Let the world keep its distance. Let fear do the work instead of us."
"And that worked?" Three asked.
"For a thousand years," Sigil said. "People remember what we cost them."
He didn't say Vexer's name again, but it was there anyway.
Three heard it.
"And now he's gone," Three said.
Sigil didn't answer immediately. He looked out at the sky instead.
"Dad," Three said, sharper now. "Don't do that thing where you stop talking and hope I forget the question."
A faint shift crossed Sigil's face.
"You sound like your grandfather," he said.
"Answer me."
A pause.
"The world has been waiting," Sigil said finally. "Not for permission. Not for a reason. Just for timing." He looked down at his hands. "We have things people want. Always have."
Three stared at him.
"So they're coming."
Sigil didn't deny it.
"Dad."
"We don't know the exact moment."
"That's not what I asked."
Silence again.
Then Sigil nodded once.
"They're likely coming."
Three turned away immediately, staring at the yard. His fingers tightened around his knees without him noticing.
"So what's the point," he said quietly. "Of telling me this. I can't do anything. I didn't awaken. I'm just… here."
He didn't look at his father.
"What am I supposed to do with that except be scared?"
Sigil didn't respond right away.
He picked up the stone again.
"When that war happened," he said, "there was no single person who saved us."
Three frowned slightly at that.
"There was one person who refused to accept that we would fall," Sigil continued. "That was it. Nothing special. No grand power. Just a decision that the clan would continue." He set the stone down. "That was enough to change everything."
Three stared at the stone.
"That sounds like something you say to someone who can't fight," he muttered.
"It is," Sigil said immediately.
That made Three look at him again.
Sigil didn't look away.
"I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "You didn't awaken. That matters. I'm not going to pretend it doesn't." A pause. "But survival in this clan has never been about just strength. If it was, we wouldn't still be here."
Wind moved through the grass behind them.
Three stayed quiet for a long time.
"Are we going to be okay?" he asked finally.
His voice came out smaller than he wanted.
Sigil looked at him.
Then he reached over and placed a hand on the back of Three's head. Not heavy. Just there.
"I'm going to make sure of it," he said.
No promise beyond that. No certainty dressed up as hope.
Just that.
Three didn't respond. He just leaned forward slightly and stayed there.