The day did not end abruptly. It softened.Light thinned into gold, then into something quieter, gentler, as if even the sun understood that this place—this beginning—should not be rushed into darkness. The clearing had changed in ways that were not immediately obvious at a glance, but impossible to ignore once you looked closer. The ground had been shaped, not perfectly, not completely, but enough to hold intention. The center had been marked, the earth turned carefully where Jay now rested beneath it, not hidden, not forgotten, but placed with a kind of stillness that felt like respect rather than absence.Nothing about it felt final.And that was the point.Aria stood a short distance away, her arms loosely wrapped around herself, though not from cold. The air had cooled with the coming night, but it was not harsh, not biting. It settled gently against her skin, carrying with it the faint scent of earth and something new—something she could not quite name yet, but felt all the same
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