Tsfh-twytr-bdwn-tsjyl-hsab -

And he had. His pride. His people’s trust. His belief that he could save anyone by force. All of it had burned away in the long drought. What remained was only the question: What is one life worth if it cannot break its own silence?

And that was the beginning.

He reached out in the dark. Her hand met his – warm, real, impossible. “The world outside is dying,” he whispered. “Then let it,” she said. “But we will carry the seed of what comes after. Not in soil. In story.” tsfh-twytr-bdwn-tsjyl-hsab