Six months after the tribunal, Ral sat in Dr. Elena Cortez's office for his weekly therapy session, staring at the question she had just asked with the uncomfortable intensity it deserved.
"When was the last time you felt genuinely happy?" Dr. Cortez repeated, her pen poised over her notepad with professional patience.
"Yesterday," Ral answered after careful consideration. "Louis and I were cooking dinner, and she made a terrible joke about my knife skills. I laughed without thinking about whether it was strategic or appropriate. Just laughed because something was funny."
"And that surprised you?"
"Everything about being happy surprises me," Ral admitted. "I spent fifteen years surviving, then eight years planning revenge, then five years maintaining a false identity. Happiness was nev
