Summer settled over Sydney almost overnight. The days stretched longer, the harbour glittered beneath the afternoon sun, and the cicadas seemed determined to make themselves heard from morning until night. For Elara, the weeks before university became a strange mixture of excitement and waiting. She wasn't quite ready to leave yet.
Most mornings, she took her sketchbook down toward the water and found somewhere quiet enough to sit. The Rocks became one of her favourite places, mostly because there was always something new to notice—the old sandstone buildings, narrow streets, balconies crowded with plants, tourists stopping every few minutes to take photographs. She sketched whatever caught her attention. Sometimes it was a building. Sometimes a doorway. Once, she spent nearly an hour drawing the same section of the Harbour Bridge because she couldn't get the lines right.
Her phone buzzed beside her.
ETHAN:Are you coming home or have you officially moved into The Rocks?
Elara smiled and typed back.
ELARA:I'm busy.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
ETHAN:Doing what?
She looked down at the half-finished sketch.
ELARA:Being talented.
His reply came quickly.
ETHAN:Right. Forgot.
She rolled her eyes, slipped her phone into her bag, and went back to her drawing.
Her afternoons were usually less peaceful. Once the heat became too much, she escaped into the house, where the air-conditioning was almost always fighting a losing battle. Her laptop was rarely far away. University was still months away, but Elara had already fallen into the habit of looking through campaign ideas, branding projects, and communication trends whenever she had nothing else to do.
She liked seeing how a single idea could change depending on how it was presented. A headline could make something sound exciting or completely forgettable. A photograph could change the way people understood a story. Even small details could affect how something was received.
When she wasn't on her laptop, she could usually be found in her father's studio. The room smelled faintly of wood, metal polish, and old paper. Sunlight came through the windows in long strips, falling across the workbench where Julian kept boxes of tools and half-restored pieces.
Elara had started helping him with the fountain pens years ago. She liked the process. There was something satisfying about taking something old and worn and slowly bringing it back to life.
One afternoon, she sat at the workbench, carefully polishing the gold nib of a vintage pen while her mother stood in the doorway watching her.
"You know, most people your age spend their summer sleeping until noon."
Elara didn't look up. "Most people don't have my hobbies."
"Clearly."
Elara smiled.
Sarah stepped closer and picked up one of the finished pens. "Your father has created another monster."
"Excuse me?"
"First you steal his tools. Now you're restoring his pens."
"He should be proud."
"He is terrified."
Elara laughed and placed the pen carefully beside the others.
Sarah glanced at the laptop sitting open nearby. "Still researching?"
"Maybe."
"You're supposed to be enjoying your last few months here."
"I am."
"You're researching university programmes on a Saturday."
"That's enjoyable."
Sarah gave her a look.
Elara finally laughed. "Okay, fine. Maybe I'm a little obsessed."
"A little?"
"Don't start."
Her mother smiled and leaned against the workbench. For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Sarah asked quietly, "Are you nervous?"
Elara's hands slowed.
"A little."
"About Denmark?"
"About everything." She looked at the pen in her hand. "What if it's completely different from what I imagined?"
Sarah considered that for a moment before smiling.
"It probably will be."
Elara looked up.
"That's usually how new things work."
That answer somehow made Elara feel better.
By late January, the decision they'd been talking about for weeks was finally sitting in front of them.
The family had gathered on the patio after dinner, surrounded by university brochures, laptops, half-empty glasses and a bowl of watermelon that Ethan had somehow managed to finish almost entirely by himself.
He sat back in his chair and looked around the table.
"Right," he announced. "This is it."
Elara raised an eyebrow. "What's it?"
"The summit."
Julian looked up from his laptop. "The what?"
"The official Stormborne university summit."
Sarah laughed. "And who appointed you chairman?"
"Nobody. That's what makes me qualified."
Elara reached across the table and stole a piece of watermelon from his bowl.
"You're already abusing your power."
"That was mine."
"You weren't eating it."
"I was thinking about eating it."
"That's not how food works."
Ethan pointed at her. "See? This is exactly why I need to leave the country."
"Finally, something we agree on."
Julian shook his head, smiling as he closed his laptop. "Alright. Enough. You two have spent weeks looking at universities. Where are we?"
Elara glanced at the screen in front of her. The Aalborg University website was still open. She had looked at it so many times that she could probably navigate the entire page with her eyes closed.
"I think Aalborg is the one."
Ethan leaned back. "For you or for both of us?"
"Both, actually."
Sarah looked at him. "And you're still happy with the sports science programme?"
"Very."
"Even though it's Denmark?"
Ethan grinned. "Especially because it's Denmark."
Elara gave him a suspicious look. "Why?"
"Because I've always wanted to see how far I can get from you."
She kicked his chair.
He laughed.
Julian looked between them. "And you, Elara?"
She glanced at the screen again. "I like that the programme isn't just sitting in a lecture hall taking notes all day. There's practical work, projects, collaboration..." She paused, searching for the right words. "It feels like something I can actually step into."
Sarah nodded slowly. "You've thought about this."
"Obviously."
Ethan reached for another piece of watermelon. "She made a spreadsheet."
Elara frowned. "It was one spreadsheet."
"It had colour coding."
"That's organisation."
"It had tabs."
"That's still organisation."
Julian laughed under his breath.
Sarah shook her head. "Well, at least we know she's serious."
Elara looked back at the university page, her excitement returning. "I just want to see what I can do somewhere completely different. New people. New ideas. A different country."
There was a brief silence.
Then Julian smiled. "Sounds like Denmark."
Elara looked at him. "Really?"
He nodded. "Really."
Ethan lifted his glass. "To Denmark, then."
Elara raised hers. "To Denmark."
Sarah joined them, followed by Julian. Their glasses touched in the middle of the table.
For a moment, it felt simple.
A decision. A destination. A new beginning.
They had no idea how much was about to change.
The next morning, the house descended into chaos. Suitcases appeared from storage. Boxes were dragged out of cupboards. Clothes somehow multiplied across Elara's bedroom floor, despite her insisting she had already started packing.
Ethan walked past her doorway, took one look inside, and stopped.
"You're not seriously taking all that."
Elara looked up from the suitcase she was sitting on. "Yes."
"Why?"
She zipped the suitcase shut. "Because I need it."
"You need four pairs of sunglasses?"
"Obviously."
"You own one pair."
"Exactly. So I need backups."
Ethan stared at her.
Elara smiled sweetly. "Welcome to my packing process."
He shook his head and walked away.
Behind him, Elara looked around her room one last time.
Denmark suddenly felt much closer than it had the night before.