She lifted a single, iridescent feather from her wing and placed it on his palm. The feather glowed faintly, pulsing with a rhythm that matched the boy’s heartbeat.

Arielle knelt, feeling the rough wood of the stall beneath her. She reached into her pocket and produced a single, tiny crystal—clear as a teardrop, yet shimmering with an inner light. She placed it gently on the locket.

He glanced up, surprised, and then smiled shyly. “Because I can’t touch it. I can only try to understand it with my eyes.”