Chapter 7
Chapter 7 — The Thaw Before the Hearing
In the weeks before the formal land hearing, a late autumn storm damages the eastern boundary wall, forcing Jonas and Elena to repair it together. Elena's health falters briefly, alarming Jonas and prompting Aldona to reveal more about Elena's solitary trip to Vilnius decades ago. Marius arrives with old family photographs that show the boundary as it once was, providing unexpected visual evidence. Vytautas appears at the oak and warns Jonas that someone from the district office has been asking questions about the family's claims. Jonas grows anxious but finds resolve in Elena's steadiness. The chapter ends on the eve of the hearing, with the repaired wall standing and the household bracing for what comes next.
The storm came three days after Jonas wrote his final entry in the diary.
It arrived not with thunder but with a wind that sounded like something enormous dragging itself across the fields. Jonas woke to it at half past four, the window rattling in its frame, and found Elena already standing in the kitchen doorway, fully dressed, listening. Her face held no alarm — only the fixed attention of someone who has weathered many such nights and knows exactly what each sound threatens.
"The east wall," she said.
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