When L. returned to the village, the change was immediate. The sky was clearer, the air lighter. The shrieks of the train were quieter now, fading into the distance. The people, who had once avoided the forest, now spoke of it with a kind of reverence. They had heard the stories of what had happened, of the spirits that had been freed, and they no longer feared the night.

L.'s family, too, was transformed. Her father, no longer bent with the weight of the world, stood straighter, his hands no longer stiff from years of toil. Her mother smiled more often, the heavy sadness in her eyes lifted. The villagers who had once ignored L. now nodded to her as she passed, their gazes no longer fearful.

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And in the forest, the fairies—bright and full of color—flitted through the trees, their wings shimmering like new light. The stones, once a symbol of fear, were now a gift, a blessing, and the village, once forgotten, had found a new kind of peace.