Elara followed as a silent witness, a ghost inside his memory.
She watched the younger Kael—stiff in his uniform, already half-gone to duty—walk past his daughter without a word. But now, now , the older Kael's consciousness reached out. He placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. She turned, surprised.
She guided Kael into the coil's hum. His breathing slowed. His eyes opened—not seeing her studio, but a sunlit kitchen fifty years gone.