LENA: (hopeful) He didn’t choose cages or silence. He chose the forest.

KAI: (softly) He’s giving us a choice.

RAVEN: (quiet) Sometimes a lone wolf carries a whole story. We decide whether to close the book or help him turn a page.

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.)

Scene 4 — Dawn (Morning light. SHADOW melts into the trees. LENA, KAI, and RAVEN stand in the clearing, footprints leading away.)

LENA: (kneeling, not reaching) We can’t bring them back in a night. But we can choose what comes after. We can keep spaces for the next ones.

KAI: He trusts the quiet. Not our hands. Trust the quiet and maybe we can learn something.

LENA: (to KAI) There used to be more. My maps show corridors—then roads. He could be the last from this line.

KAI: If he’s alone, he survives differently. More cunning. Or he’s just tired.

Scene 3 — Encounter (They step outside. Moonlight washes the clearing. SHADOW stands on a ridge, visible and calm.)

RAVEN: (smiling a little) The last howl isn’t an ending—it’s a promise. As long as someone listens.

(SHADOW drops from the ridge and approaches slowly. He stops a few yards away, sitting, head tilted.)

End.