Kaan storms through the rune-lit tunnels of his stronghold, hearing the shrieks and hunger of the flames around him through Ignos. Mercenaries flatten themselves against the walls and salute as he passes, but Kaan is too consumed by rage to care. He has not slept for several cycles, ever since waking to Raeve straddling him with one of Rygun’s scales at his throat.

As Kaan relives that moment, he focuses on what matters most to him: after threatening to kill him, Raeve’s eyes softened, and Kaan believes he saw a tenderness that proves some part of her lost memories still survives. That conviction keeps him restless and violent. Even after three rises and falls of the aurora during the hard ride home on Rygun, Kaan still does not want sleep; he wants release for the bloodthirsty energy tearing through him.

Kaan heads down a broad stairwell into the rough training arena he made for exactly this purpose. He splits a small flame into many and sends them to ignite the wall torches, flooding the cavern with angry amber light. The arena is deliberately crude and functional, a place to break bodies and exhaust feral impulses before they turn worse.

Grihm follows Kaan into the ring as the doors shut behind them. Kaan stretches, reopening half-healed wounds and letting blood drip onto the iron-specked sand, then warns Grihm that he is not in the mood to hold back. Grihm strips off his outer layers, revealing severe scarring across his body, and answers in a harsh voice that he feels the same way, startling Kaan because Grihm speaks so rarely.

With that, Kaan charges. He and Grihm crash into each other in a savage exchange of fists, blood, snarls, and brute force. The fight becomes Kaan’s chosen outlet for the pressure building inside him, showing how dangerously Raeve’s presence and the hope of her returning memories have unsettled him.