Children born after the viral video were now ten years old.
They'd never known hiding. Never known fear. Never known a world where creatures weren't accepted.
"They're different," an elder observed. "Not better or worse. Just... different. Open in ways we never were."
Glad watched them play—human and creature children together, species irrelevant, friendship natural.
"What will their world look like?" Ariel wondered.
"Hopefully easier than ours. Hopefully they'll have new challenges we can't imagine. That's how progress works."
"Think they'll appreciate what we built?"
"Probably not. That's okay. They'll build their own."
The children ran through Anino Garden, shrieking with laughter, the Watcher occasionally chasing them in cat form.
The future, Glad thought.
Already here.
Already beautiful.