smile graced my lips, capturing a quiet elegy I had come to understand all too well. “The jewel has made its choice,’ I said, letting the words fall and settle upon the earth beneath our feet. ‘It was merely a brief visit. Yet, just

more than a breath against the evening breeze, deliberately leaving the word hanging in the vast expanse of the dusk. "...I suppose stepping forward into absolute uncertainty does not feel quite as daunting when there is someone