Grief gradually settled into something manageable, the household finding new rhythm around the absence that had once felt impossible to navigate. Young Elena grew steadily, her first real sentences bringing moments of pure joy that helped balance the lingering sorrow still present in quieter moments.
Mercer found himself, nearly a year after his mother's death, drawn toward a question he'd never fully pursued with everything else demanding his attention. Who, or what, had actually created the Ledger in the first place. What genuine purpose lay beneath its careful guidance, beyond the explanations it had offered during his own journey.
He raised the question with the cold voice one quiet evening, genuine curiosity finally outweighing whatever reluctance had previously kept him from pressi
