Aria met Elara halfway between the creek and the path. They stood facing each other, both searching for the right words to begin this difficult conversation.
"Your mother said I could come find you," Elara said finally. Her voice was quiet, uncertain. "That you might be willing to talk. But if you're not, I understand. I can go."
"Stay," Aria said after a moment. "I'm willing."
Relief washed over Elara's face like water over stones. "Thank you. I will not take much time. I just wanted you to know I finished my community service. And that it changed me. Really changed me."
"How?" Aria asked, genuinely curious about what three months of service had taught her former friend.
"Working with the elders. Hearing their stories. There was this one elder, Marta, who told me she had spent her whole life thinking she was not special because she did not have gifts or titles. But then she realized that raising three children who became healers, warriors, and teachers was its own legacy."
