The Path of Restoration was not a straight path. It was a series of small, measured steps, such as a bricklayer laying bricks. A new shirt. An open door. A naira saved. The Foresight talent was a steady hum in the back of Elian's mind, a different way of thinking that allowed him to see beyond the immediate need for food or shelter. He began to plan, considering the ecology of the area, the flows of favor and information. Tade, the street boy, was a familiar, welcome visitor by now, his sharp eyes and ears a valuable source of the street's beneath-the-surface realities.
Tade arrived with the news, his small face furrowed in concern. "Oga Elian, they are having a party. At the new party hall by the lagoon. Your. your old people."
Elian's hands, that had been mending a rip in his second-be
