Lira nodded, stepping backward and turning carefully toward the door. Each movement felt lighter, as though the burden of uncertainty had lessened. She remembered the promise she had made to the fairy queen, and in that quiet acknowledgment, a sense of peace settled over her. Her secret was hers to guard, and the power she had nurtured would grow, step by step, wind by wind.
As she walked through the doors, back into the familiar corridors of the academy, Lira thought to herself how her journey had been dangerous, her trial grueling, but she had learned something invaluable: she could trust herself, and she could trust the power that lived within her.
The chamber felt impossibly still.
