From the Ember Coast they crossed the Scorched Highlands to reach the Valley of Flame Trees—where Kemi once dreamed of becoming more than a girl with callused feet and a world of silence inside her.
There, they found her granddaughter, Temi—a fierce, bright-eyed healer who spoke the names of herbs like incantations and carried in her pouch a locket shaped like a seed.
"My grandmother said her first love disappeared into the smoke of destiny," Temi said, handing Seyna the locket. "But that his spirit danced through every storm she survived."
The locket opened on its own.
Inside was a pressed baobab leaf—and a single line, written in trembling script:
"Love returns in every form. Even if not as we remember."
When Seyna placed it beside Amira's book, both began to pulse with light.
The echoes were converging.
And the veil was nearly gone.