Old Wounds
Old Wounds. Old Wounds is the mentor's early warning system, written into every scar they carry. Hours before danger arrives — an ambush on the road, a knife in a friendly hand, a trap sprung in a council chamber — the old wounds begin to ache. The mentor has learned to read the pattern of the pain: a throb in the shoulder means steel from above, a pull in the ribs means betrayal from someone trusted, a cold tightness across the throat means the danger is already inside the room. The gift gives them time. Not much. Enough to put a hand on a weapon, to angle a shoulder toward the door, to say the one word that might still turn the moment. The mentor has stopped wondering why their scars know the future. They simply listen.