Craving the alpha soldier
Alive.
I thought about the word legacy, and how often it had been used as a justification rather than a question. We spoke of it as something to leave behind, something solid and named. But standing there, with water slipping past my skin, legacy felt less like an object and more like a pattern. A way of moving through the world that others might unconsciously adopt. A posture rather than a monument.
Footsteps approached from behind—unhurried, unthreatening. I turned to see a woman I recognized only in passing, someone who lived nearby. She carried a basket at her hip, filled with herbs and something wrapped in cloth. She nodded once, neither inviting nor dismissive.
Bab Populer