(meanwhile)in a private chamber next to the flame

Mavuika listened while Mualani gave her report.

The younger Name Bearer — still marked by the ancient title of Endless Crest — spoke in long, cheerful detail. She described the group’s composition, the easy way the women shared the Traveler, the complete lack of jealousy when one of them received a formal proposal, and the particular nun who had slapped him hard enough to leave a glowing handprint across his cheek before kissing him senseless in front of everyone.

Mavuika’s eyebrows rose. Then she laughed, rich and openly amused.

“So the same woman who left that pulsing mark on his face is the one he is currently locked away with, loving passionately by candlelight?” She glanced toward the private wooden room in the distance. “How delightful.”

Her gaze drifted to the great Flame of Passion that burned at the heart of the stadium. It was not raging or violent. Instead it pulsed with steady, energetic light — warm, rhythmic waves that had begun the moment the door closed behind Aether and Rosaria and had not faded since. The Flame clearly approved of whatever was happening inside that room.

Mavuika’s expression softened into something more serious, though the amusement never fully left her eyes.

“I hope he is as effective as the Flame seems to believe,” she said quietly. “If this man can truly reach the others… if he can bring a Name Bearer back from the cold places they have retreated to and reignite what they have lost… then we may finally have the strength to push the Abyss back where it belongs.”

She turned again to Mualani, still smiling.

“You did well finding him, Endless Crest. Keep close to that group. I suspect Natlan is going to need every spark they can offer.”

Outside, the Flame continued its strong, approving pulse, casting long, warm light across the stadium while the Traveler and his newly accepted fiancée remained lost in each other for the rest of the night.