THE FOURTH REALM: GREEN — Something begins to thaw

She woke crying.

The tears were warm. She stayed awake for the rest of the night, letting memories come that she had avoided for years. Yet she soon discovered that her mind was choosing a new culprit. Where it had once blamed everyone else, now it wanted to blame only her.

“You can’t judge your past with the awareness you have today,” Helio reminded her. “In each moment, you responded as best you could, with what you were able to see then.”

Skyblue pressed a paw to her chest.

What had hurt her was still there. She didn’t need to erase it, but she no longer wanted to be harsh with the little dragon she had been.

Other things began to appear in those memories: the fear behind an order, her parents’ love when they didn’t know how to help her. She saw happy moments, too, ones that pain had pushed into a corner: Aurora laughing, the healer preparing herbs, a branch of Ernesto’s lowering to welcome her.

She remembered Evarista’s words: one day, she would want to go back.

For the first time, she could imagine herself in her village without having to defend herself against every memory.

She went out before dawn. Leaning against the trunk, she watched the light slowly reveal the mountains. The cold remained on the peaks. Within her, though, something was beginning to thaw.