ACT TWO — THE JOURNEY
Section title page. The crossing. She’s left her cage (or been carried out of it), off her known world, in motion, dependent, exposed. Everything she’s avoided happening at once, in transit.
State: SEED. Discover by writing toward it. No chapters exist yet — they’ll be made when the story arrives here. (Correct for a discovery writer: first act sharp, middle aimed at, not fixed.)
⚡ THE ACT’S SHAPE (found 2026-07-20 — no longer a bare seed)
The Humphrey structure, scaled up (the family’s dragon-story form: three tries, each failing more spectacularly, building to the ending). The sisters work passage together, hop by hop — Nyra reluctantly living at close quarters for the first time in her life. Three attempts at closeness; three escalating failures; the third is the lowest point (signpost 3). Each hop can carry one attempt.
Nyra’s line: going home — to Earth, to stop running, to settle the past. Not rescued: choosing. Lirien’s line (counterpoint): the unravelling of home — can she return to a promised marriage, required children, service to the line, now her eyes are open? Nyra journeys toward a family; Lirien journeys away from one.
Destination: EARTH (the elf world is a non-starter — she’d glow as crime near kin). Full ending direction in the-keeper-four-signposts.