Zane
A lot can change in a few days. Not dramatically, not all at once, but in small things that build on each other. Elariana no longer trembles when she enters a room. She does not automatically look for the exit. She does not flinch at every sound. The past has not disappeared from her, but it no longer controls everything.
She spends most of her time with the children.
At first, that surprised me. I thought she would be afraid of them, of the noise, the sudden movements. Instead, she sat down with them in the grass, let them swarm around her, ask questions, pull at her hair, talk about everything and nothing. She was not awkward. She was not tense. As if something in her worked completely naturally when she was with them.
She laughed. She smiled. Genuinely.
That was what truly str
