The palace market was unusually quiet that day. Elara, now ten, had grown used to the rhythm of her secret meetings with Mira. They always met near the spice stalls, where the scent of cardamom and clove masked their whispered conversations.
But today, Mira was distracted. Her eyes darted toward the edge of the market, where a narrow path led into the woods beyond the palace walls.
"I have to go," she said abruptly, gathering her satchel.
"Where?" Elara asked.
"Somewhere you shouldn't follow."
But Elara did.
She waited until Mira disappeared into the trees, then slipped behind her, careful not to make a sound. The path twisted through thick foliage and opened into a clearing where a crumbling stone building stood—the old storage house. Elara had heard rumors about it. A place for the forgotten. The exiled.
She crept closer, hiding behind a low wall. Mira entered the building and was greeted by others—men and women who looked worn but wise. They called her Ana.
Elara's breath caught.
She watched as Mira—Ana—removed her shawl, revealing the face Elara had seen only in portraits hidden deep in the palace archives. The woman who had once been queen. The woman who had vanished.
Her mother.
Elara stumbled backward, her heart pounding. A twig snapped beneath her foot. Ana turned sharply, her eyes meeting Elara's.
"Elara?" she whispered, stepping forward.
Elara didn't speak. She couldn't.
Ana knelt before her, tears welling in her eyes. "I wanted to tell you. So many times. But I couldn't risk it."
"You're my mother," Elara said, voice trembling.
Ana nodded. "Yes. And I've watched you grow into everything I dreamed you'd be."
Elara's eyes filled with tears. "Why did they send you away?"
Ana pulled her into an embrace. "Because they feared what I stood for. But I never stopped loving you. Never stopped teaching you. You are my legacy."
They sat together in the garden behind the storage house, the sun casting golden light over the broken stones. Ana told her everything—about the court, the exile, the dreams she had buried and the ones she had passed on.
Elara listened, her heart breaking and healing all at once.
"I'm going to Columbia," she said finally. "Because of you."
Ana smiled through her tears. "Then go. And show them what a daughter can become."