Vineyard had not been waiting for her.
It stood where it had always stood, only now it looked less like something clinging to life and more like something that had decided it would survive whether anyone believed in it or not.
The walls were thicker. The paths were cleared. Guard posts sat at deliberate intervals instead of wherever someone had last panicked and stopped walking. Storage areas were labelled in chalk instead of guarded by hope.
Someone had started thinking long term.
Felicity noticed all of that in the way she noticed most things. Gently. Without turning it into a problem.
Then Rose took her hand and the rest of the world stopped mattering.
Warm. Solid. Real.
Felicity's smile returned like it had never left. Bright and open, the kind that did not ask permission to exist.
Rose did not squeeze her hand like she was afraid Felicity would disappear. She held it like she had decided Felicity belonged beside her and that was the end of the discussion.
