Ariana finished her Business Law exam at 11:30 a.m., her pen down well before the time was called. A collective sigh of relief seemed to ripple through the hall, followed by a burst of celebratory energy. Batchmates embraced, their laughter echoing with the joy of freedom. Though they would see each other again in second year, for some, this marked a farewell before a month-long vacation. Ariana watched the goodbyes, knowing many international students, like herself, would remain in the quiet dorms.
But her own impatience was a quiet hum beneath the celebration. Kian's final exam was still six hours away. Ten days without seeing him felt like a lifetime. Seeking solace, she slipped away to the nearly empty cafeteria. The space felt serene, the air itself seeming to slow down and prepare for the coming cold. She ate a warm soup by the window, her gaze lost in the majestic tapestry of the distant mountains and the skeletal branches of the great trees.
Drawn by the need to move, she found herself on the "Green Path." The senior who had told her the story had done so with a reverent tone. 🏞
Long ago, the story went, a terrible drought had cursed the land. A young girl named Liora, searching for berries for her sick brother, discovered a miraculous trail of glowing green sprouts in the parched forest. She followed this "green path," which led her to an ancient, moss-covered well. At her touch, water surged forth, flowing back along the path and reviving the entire village. When asked how she found it, Liora simply said, "I followed the green path."
Now, as Ariana walked the same legendary trail, the weight of exams and doubt fell away, replaced by the simple, solid truths of earth and air. The path was indeed still blessed;not by forest spirits, but by the quiet peace it offered. She walked, not to find a hidden well, but to gather the scattered pieces of herself, to remember the girl she was before the relentless pressure of the semester.
With every step, her anticipation for seeing Kian softened from a sharp anxiety into a warm, steady glow. The path was leading her not to a miracle of water, but back to her own heart, ready to be offered freely when their separate journeys finally converged. đź—»