Day 18: Zyx’s Journal

I wake up to rain, the kind that makes the moss on the stones feel like wet silk. My stomach’s still a bit hollow from that berry tea I made for Lyra, and my legs are heavy as if I’ve been walking through water all day. Yesterday, I found myself near the old ruins again—just like I did the day before last, and the day before that. It’s not that I want to go there, not really. But when I look up at the river stones, I see how they’re glowing faintly in the dark, and I can’t stop thinking about what Vex said to me by the river. She told me the stones don’t just sing—they *remember*. That’s all I can hold onto: the idea that the stones remember, and maybe, just maybe, they know what I’m feeling too. I tried to talk to Lyra about the glow-moss and the bridge, but my voice felt too small, like I was whispering to the wind. Now, I’m lying here in the rain, listening to the stones hum, wondering if tomorrow will bring something new or just more silence.