When the Moon Dries Its Eyes

Previously

…Elara nodded, a shaky smile mirroring his. She felt the lunar energy within her, not as a wild tempest anymore, but as a steady, powerful current. She had faced the darkness, and in doing so, had finally begun to understand the light. The Shadow Weaver was gone, their power broken, their ambition thwarted. But Elara knew, with a certainty that settled deep in her bones, that the fight was far from over. The world was safe, for now, but the journey had irrevocably changed her. She was no longer just Elara, the orphan. She was Elara, the moon-child, and her destiny was just beginning to unfold under the watchful, silent gaze of the night sky.