**Astrein's POV**

Finally. After weeks of agony, of distance that felt like torture, of every day dragging by like an eternity, I'm standing in front of Gaia again.

She's even more beautiful than I remember, and I've been remembering every detail obsessively. The sight of her hits me like a physical blow—her golden blonde hair catching the afternoon light streaming through the window, her green eyes wide with shock and something else I can't quite name, her lips parted in ...