Princess Lainsa looked at the two figures bound beside her–Kiaria and Diala.Their presence steadied her more than words ever could. A faint smile touched her lips, not from relief, but from clarity finally earned.
"I have an answer," she said quietly."But what I understood cannot be poured out in a few clean sentences. Still… I can tell you this much."
"Ending life is easy.It can be named sacrifice, suicide, murder, or fate–but the act itself is simple."
"What is not simple…is what remains."
"Death does not sever the path already walked.It leaves the ties behind."
"Every bond formed along that road stands between life and death–
sometimes as a shield, sometimes as a blade.The longer the bond, the heavier it becomes."
"I believed my path was mine to end," Lainsa continued, her gaze lowering for a moment."But the Heart Realm showed me that I was never walking alone."
"The road I chose was built by those who walked before me,and it is still being walked by those beside me."
