Auri stood at the edge of the glade, the wind brushing through her hair like an old friend's hand. Around her, the garden still pulsed with life—blossoms shaped by memories, silver vines whispering songs only she could hear. But the ache inside her had changed. It no longer stung—it thrummed, steady and full, like something waiting to be answered.
She traced a path between the mossy stones, barefoot, letting the earth remember her weight.
In the center of the clearing stood the Promise Tree.
It hadn't been there before.
Its bark was pale like moonlight, its branches stretched like arms, and at its roots bloomed the same strange flowers that had curled around her cabin. Auri approached slowly, heart trembling. She remembered Hope's words—your grief bloomed—and wondered what came next, once grief had grown tall enough to shade you.
She laid a hand on the bark.
And the tree breathed.
Not in the way living things do, but in a way that recognized her—like it knew her. She felt it in her pulse, in the soft beat beneath her ribs. It wasn't just a tree.
It was a vow.
Auri closed her eyes.
She remembered the way Lyra looked at her that night by the firelight. The way she had said nothing, but held her hand as if it were everything. She remembered the broken spells, the whispered apologies, the final goodbye.
"I made a promise," Auri whispered. "That I would live. That I would love again, even if you were gone."
The tree shimmered.
Its leaves danced without wind.
And in that moment, Auri knew—this was the magic Lyra had left behind. Not in spells or books, not in stones or potions. But in promises. In choices. In the way love keeps growing even when the hands that planted it are no longer there.
"I thought I couldn't be anything without you," Auri said, her voice shaking. "But I'm still here. I'm still becoming."
The tree pulsed softly.
And from its base, a small bloom opened—just one. Pale blue, like the color of Lyra's laughter.
Auri reached down and plucked it gently.
Not to keep. To carry.
That evening, she braided it into her hair.
And when Talon saw her walking from the woods, wrapped in silver light, he paused. "You've changed," he said.
"No," Auri replied, smiling. "I've grown."