Alicia stared at her, throat tightening. "I don't want to leave you."
Arithra cupped her cheek gently, her thumb stroking once more. "I trust you. We trust you. Everything we couldn't finish… you will. I've seen it. You must. And remember all that I told."
The lavender around them began to sway harder now, petals lifting into the air like violet snow. The breeze stirred more wildly, the light above them intensifying—growing sharper, edged with something ancient and inevitable, as though time itself had begun to crack.
"Run when you must. Hide when you have to. But never forget who you are."
"But Mama…" Alicia whispered, her voice catching, trembling with a grief she didn't know how to name.
Arithra smiled through her tears, brushing a final kiss to her forehead. "Yes… my golden one. You're not just our legacy. You're the storm they'll never be ready for."
"I don't know how to," Alicia admitted, her voice breaking. "I don't know how to be her."
