The wilds were unforgiving to father and daughter that season. But Leonidas persevered through each trial, driven by his promise to Elysia. When springs waned and harvests began, he emerged from the fringes to find respite in a small village sheltered in a hidden vale.

There he discovered an aged hut on the village outskirts occupied by none but a stooped figure tending flaming herbs by lamplight—the healer Helena, spared from death by Leonidas' mercy years prior. Recognizing her savior, Helena ushered them both in and set about tending their ills without comment.

Through that long night, Irena fussed and cried despite all Helena's remedies. Leonidas' strength was failing fast. At dawn, Helena turned to him with a tea steaming between wrinkled hands. Drink, and rest—you have walked the border of Hades too long alone. I will watch your daughter. Seeing no choice, Leonidas obeyed and slipped at last into exhausted slumber.

When awareness returned, sunlight was slanting gold through the hut's smokehole. Irena lay contentedly beside him, gumming a soaked herb. Helena sat by the hearth, eyes aglow. The babe is blessed, she sighed. And you, Leonidas—your trials have only begun. But as one who lost all to war, let me aid you further. I have lived too long with only memories for company. Stay, and let your daughter bring new purpose.

Moved by her sacrifice, Leonidas accepted. And so through that summer's waning, a fragile family took shape. Helena treated Irena as her own, teaching Leonidas the gentle arts of care that eased his scars. In lonely hours, Leonidas spoke to the old woman of Elysia—her radiance, their love born of unlikely hope. And Helena wept to hear of one so full of vitality lost to brutality she knew all too well.

As harvests passed in peaceful toil, Irena's first words and steps awakened joy long thought dead in Leonidas' heart. Though Elysia's memory remained his solitary mourning, giving life and light to their daughter was balm to heal old wounds slowly. Often he watched the babe play beneath colorful leaves, seeing glimpses of the future and reunions his love had foretold. And with each new dawn, faith in her promise strengthened once more.