When Jessie returned later that evening, her eyes seemed softer.
There was a faint trace of green shimmer beneath her skin, visible only when the lamplight touched her face.
"How was it?" Ash asked.
Jessie smiled. "Peaceful. They just… made me sit near the roots and listen. For a long time."
"Listen?"
She nodded.
He thought she was just tired, but that night, as they lay under the soft, leafy roof, Ash could hear it too — the faint hum coming from beneath the ground. Like a living heartbeat, but it sounded natural.
---
The next few days became a rhythm of work and rest, of laughter and small comforts. Strangely, everyone Ash met during this time seemed perfectly in sync with him — as if he had stumbled upon all the right people in the right place.
Ash found himself speaking less.
