RAVEN: (calloused hand over his heart) We came to mark tracks. Maybe it’s the wolf that marks us now.
KAI: That’s enough for now.
End.
Scene 4 — Dawn (Morning light. SHADOW melts into the trees. LENA, KAI, and RAVEN stand in the clearing, footprints leading away.)
RAVEN: (to the wolf) If you choose to stay away from the roads, I’ll keep watch. If you teach the woods your ways, I’ll teach townsfolk to listen.
RAVEN: (smiling a little) The last howl isn’t an ending—it’s a promise. As long as someone listens.
SHADOW: (voice like wind) I keep the edges of things. I remember what the old snow taught me: move light, listen harder.
(From deep in the forest, a single, long howl rises—clear, lonely, beautiful. The three stand still and listen.)
(SHADOW drops from the ridge and approaches slowly. He stops a few yards away, sitting, head tilted.)
SHADOW: (outside, a step in snow) I hunt what’s left. I learn human sounds. I do not howl at them. I watch them like they watch me.
LENA: (to KAI) There used to be more. My maps show corridors—then roads. He could be the last from this line.