SOFIA
He came back without announcement. Of course he did. There was no shift in the house to mark it, no change in routine, no visible signal passed through staff or space. Just presence.
I noticed it before I saw him. Not because anything moved, but because something settled. It was the kind of stillness that wasn’t empty, the kind that meant something had aligned again. I was in the main hall when it happened, not doing anything specific. I was just moving through it the way I had been for the past day: aware, measured, and working within a structure that had felt slightly off without a clear reason. Until now.
I turned, and he was there at the far end, speaking to someone.
Her.
The same woman from before. Nothing about her had changed: same composure, same ease, and the same quiet
