Zara watched Elio descend from the sky, her heart beating with relief and anxiety. 'You're safe, where have you been?' she thought, fighting the urge to run towards him.
♢♢♢♢
As Elio landed, memories flooded Zara's mind, transporting her years back to a day that would change her life forever.
Zara, barely 12 years old, sat alone in a corner of the school yard, her knees scraped and clothes dirty from wrestling with the boys. Her mother's words echoed in her ears:
"Women shouldn't aspire to be strong, to fight. That's not our place, Zara. You must learn to be a mother."
But those words clashed with her father's teachings, a man who had longed for a son and who, having only daughters, had poured all his hopes into Zara, his youngest child. He had raised her like a boy, teaching her to fight, to be strong, to fear nothing.
"You can be whatever you want, my little warrior," he always told her. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
