Chapter 36 - Thirty Six
The trees changed first.
The farther we traveled, the more the land shifted. The thick, dark woods of Thornridge gave way to gentler slopes, sunlight filtering through leaves that didn’t seem so heavy. The air felt cleaner. Softer. Like it hadn’t been touched by pain or blood.
We had been traveling for days. The small group that chose to come with us moved quietly, respectfully. They understood what this journey meant. Not just distance. But change.
I looked over at Darius. He rode beside me, our daughter wrapped against his chest in a soft sling. Erya slept peacefully, her tiny breaths steady even through the bouncing path. She didn’t cry much. Somehow, it felt like she understood that this journey mattered too.
Behind us, Tahlia walked with her bow slung across her back, eyes always alert. Dara and Malen kept watch over the supplies, and old Vell, the quiet elder who had chosen to follow us despite his age, hummed songs from a time before either of us had been born. It made the path feel sacred.
We weren’t in a rush. We didn’t want to be. Every step was part of the goodbye.
Every step was part of the healing.
"I think we’re close," Darius said one morning.
We had just passed a stretch of tall grasses, golden under the rising sun. A small creek wound through the valley, and beyond it, hills stretched into quiet blue sky.
"How do you know?" I asked.
He smiled a little. "I don’t. But I feel it."