Episode Nineteen: "The Morning After Everything"

The first morning of the new normal. Dion is at breakfast. The garden is settled and peaceful. The gate is open and glowing gently at the wall. A small water-sprite called Ripple has come through the gate overnight — young, slightly lost, cheerful, having taken a wrong turn in the crystal pathways (now clean and well-regulated by Clarity, but still confusing for the very young and the inexperienced). The group reassembles in the clearing to help Ripple find their way back. It is a gentle, low-stakes adventure that establishes: the gate being open means things will come through. The garden is now a waystation, a threshold, a Thin Place in active use. This is the girls' new life. Dion watches them handle Ripple — gently, competently, with warmth — and something in his face says: *yes. Exactly this.* Wave and Shimmer propose making the pond a permanent portal-station for water-creatures, which Fern adds to the clipboard with visible satisfaction.