**Chapter 38 – The Name Lysithea Never Stopped Saying in Her Prayers**
Lysithea saw her first.
The world stopped.
Her pink shadow wings vanished like smoke, her habit returned to normal, but her heart shattered into a thousand pieces in that same instant.
She took one step.
Another.
Then she ran, stumbling, falling to her knees in front of the girl.
— Elara…?
Her voice came out so small, so broken, it didn't even sound like the same Lysithea who, minutes earlier, had crushed skulls with hugs of light.
— Elara… my Elara…?
The next words wouldn't come.
Lysithea simply collapsed, hugging the trembling body of the girl as if she could stitch time itself back together with her own arms.
— I prayed for you every single night… every single one… I never stopped… I carried your absence in my chest like a knife… please… tell me it's you…
Mirella, the archer who never cried, let her bow fall and sobbed like a child.
Graciela, the dwarf who faced armies, dropped to the ground and cried with her face buried in her hands, cursing in dwarvish between sobs:
— My girl… my first daughter… I baked a cake for you every year… every year…
