>>Ariston (During the War)
The water was cold, but it didn't bite. Not anymore. I'd grown used to the chill, almost welcomed it. It numbed the places I didn't want to feel.
I stood hips-deep in the pond, the full moon hanging heavy above me like a secret. It filtered down through the canopy in wide, silver beams, dusting the clearing in a kind of quiet magic. The stream that fed the pond trickled gently around me, and for once—just for this moment—there was no sound of war. No clash of steel. No barked orders.
Just the forest. Just the moon. Just me.
It wasn't much, but the temporary peace meant a lot to me.
