Month 194 (Day 14 Outside, Evening)
Two months before they were scheduled to complete their training, Celestia asked Runar to meet her at the crystalline lake—the same place where he'd given her the spatial ring years ago.
It had become their spot. A place for important conversations.
Runar arrived to find her sitting on the shore, feet dangling in the glowing water. She looked beautiful—twenty-one years old now, with silver hair that caught the artificial moonlight and eyes that held infinite void-purple depths.
"Hey," he said, sitting beside her.
"Hey." She didn't look at him, just stared at the water. "We need to talk."
"That sounds ominous."
"It's not. Well, maybe it is. I don't know." She took a breath. "Runar, I've been thinking about something for a long time. Years, actually. And I decided that if I don't say it now, I'll regret it forever."
