Elias breaks his master clock. The jagged glass threads in Lyra's hands turn back into soft, glowing silver. As a final gift, Lyra doesn't weave his grief away. Instead, she incorporates the echo of his wife's laughter into the very center of the universe's shroud a permanent golden stitch.
Lyra returns to the Spindle, but she no longer weaves in silence. She hums the melodies of the lives that "almost were," ensuring that even the choices we don't make are never truly forgotten. The universe remains intact, held together by the beautiful, heavy echoes of everything we've ever lost.