Father's Shard

A shard of smooth black glass, etched with soft curves like veins in a leaf, faintly warm to the touch. Found by Kaerlin's father at the edge of the Overlook during the first Bellroot Vale expedition into the Fray. He said it hummed in his hand and that he could feel the Everloop beneath it — the lattice the Pattern is hung on. He disappeared into the Fray on his second expedition, and the Shard returned to the family cottage in his pocket, the way only Shards seem able to. Alira kept it hidden until her death; Kaerlin has carried it since. Father's Shard pulses when brought near the Bell Tree or any other Shard, recognising a sibling. It is the smallest of the recovered Shards and the most personal — the one that started everything for the three children.