Lady Gaia was vast and intimate at the same time, the way Earth itself is — enormous beyond comprehension and yet somehow always immediately personal. She looked at Engela Elizabeth the way someone looks at a person they have known since before that person knew themselves.

“You know why you’re here,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“My other half,” Engela said.

“Your other half,” Lady Gaia confirmed. “It won’t be quick. It won’t be simple. You’ll forget all of this the moment you arrive, and you’ll spend years finding your way back to what you already know.” A pause, warm and unhurried. “But you chose this. And we will always be close.”