But it would define what the basin learned next.
Rhys opened his eyes, presence steady, awareness wide.
"Then we choose," he said softly, "not what is easiest… but what we can be fully present within."
The currents responded—not surging, not pulling—simply brightening, ready to be met.
And together, grounded by memory, guided by acknowledgment, accompanied by a world that now walked beside them, they stood at the threshold of shaping not just what they would become—
—but what the basin itself would grow into next.
Rhys let his gaze rest on the quiet current.
It did not call to him the way the others did. It did not shimmer with promise or weight itself with consequence. It simply was—a slender flow of presence folding inward, patient enough to be overlooked, steady enough to endure neglect without resentment.
And in that stillness, he felt it resonate.
Not with ambition.Not with urgency.
With honesty.
