Julius returned home as dusk settled over the village, the river’s song still echoing in his ears. The weight in his chest, though not gone, felt lighter. For the first time in months, he felt as though he could breathe without his grief crushing him entirely. Catherine's words lingered in his mind, her gentle reassurance that he did not need to feel guilty. That perhaps Stella’s arrival was not something to fear, but something meant to be.

As he stepped inside, the warmth of the house welcomed him, carrying the faint scent of tea and the last remnants of their morning meal. Stella sat at the table, idly running her fingers over the grain of the wood, her expression distant. She looked up as he entered, her face softening.

"You're back," she said, offering a small smile.

Julius nodded, feeling an odd sense of familiarity in the way she looked at him. Not just recognition, but something deeper, something he couldn’t name. He hesitated before sitting across from her.

For a few moments, there was only silence, comfortable in a way he hadn’t expected. Then Stella spoke.

"I feel like I was meant to come here," she admitted, tracing small patterns on the tabletop. "Not just because of the dream... but because when I’m here, I feel... right."

Julius studied her, his mind still turning over everything that had happened. “Stella,” he began, his voice low, careful, “back at the river, I saw Catherine.”

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Her fingers stilled. She didn't look surprised, only curious. “You did?”

He nodded, exhaling. “She told me not to feel bad about moving forward. That... maybe you being here is something good.”

A silence stretched between them, thoughtful and uncertain. Stella shifted slightly, her brows drawing together. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, Julius,” she murmured. “Since I left Aurelian, things have felt different. And now, I find myself knowing things I shouldn’t.”

Julius straightened slightly letting out a sigh in response not knowing just how much stella knew.

She hesitated, then gave a small laugh, though there was no humor in it. “Like how you take your tea. Like the way you always pause before stepping into a room, as if you’re bracing yourself. Like how I knew where to find the extra blankets last night, even though you never told me.”

Julius felt a chill run down his spine. He had noticed some of those things before, but hearing them aloud sent a shiver of unease through him.

Stella pressed a hand to her chest. “Sometimes, I feel memories that aren’t mine. I try to recall my life before I left, and it’s... fading. But when I think of you, of this house, of Catherine” Her breath hitched. “I shouldn’t know these things, but I do.”

Julius’s hands curled into fists atop the table, his mind racing. Could it be possible? Could Catherine have somehow… merged with Stella? Had fate itself intervened, weaving the two together in some way neither of them could understand?

Swallowing hard, he reached out, his fingers brushing against hers. “I don’t know what’s happening either,” he admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “But you’re not alone in this. We’ll figure it out together.”

Stella met his gaze, and for a moment, Julius swore he saw something flicker behind her eyes something warm, something painfully familiar. A bond neither of them had asked for, but one that had entwined their fates nonetheless.

Whatever had brought them together, it was only just beginning.