Single for Eternity

"Care to tour our little households?" the old man offered, his voice warm and laced with genuine hospitality.

There was nothing deceptive in his tone, nothing that indicated malice. Just a kind old man extending a simple gesture.

The thought did cross Einar’s mind. A part of him was curious—curious to peer behind those perfectly painted smiles, to see if there was something else lurking beneath the surface of these cheerful facades.

But instinct quickly overruled curiosity. He waved his hand casually in dismissal, his expression calm.

"Some other time," he replied with a half-smile. "Right now, I want to explore more of the grasslands."

The old man’s smile didn’t falter. If anything, it grew softer, as though he understood something Einar didn’t. "If you say so," the elder said with a knowing nod. "Have a safe journey, traveler. May peace walk with you."

Without another word, the man turned around and began to walk away. He didn’t glance back once—not at Einar, not at the village behind him. He simply moved forward, as though he had completed his part in a play that would continue repeating forever.

Einar didn’t waste time. He turned on his heel and made his way back toward the massive tree—his steps brisk, deliberate, as the sun dipped lazily in the sky above. The grass swayed with the wind, whispering against his boots as he retraced his path.

There, beneath the enormous tree whose trunk was gnarled with age and whose canopy offered generous shade, lay Seren.

Her body was sprawled out comfortably on the grassy earth, silver-white hair fanned out like a veil. Her chest rose and fell with each breath, peaceful and rhythmic, betraying the exhaustion she had fought against for so long.

For a moment, she looked almost childlike—serene in a way that contradicted the harshness of their current reality.