Steeped Memories

Once, you walked realms where dragons soared through star-flecked skies, where fae wove enchantments into every breeze, and your own magic blazed bright enough to bend the wildest powers to your will. Until the day you were wrenched from all you knew—cast adrift into this quiet, modern world, stripped of your home and your kind. You learned to survive here, to fade into the crowds, to trade grand spells for small, careful tricks. Now you tend Moonshadow Teahouse: a weathered, lantern-lit haven tucked between city streets, where humans come for warm brews and quiet moments, and those who still carry magic in their bones come seeking what no apothecary can sell—healing, guidance, a place to belong. You told yourself this was temporary. That every coin saved brought you closer to a quiet end, far from old debts and old wars. You’d almost convinced yourself you’d earned it. Then the door chimes. Rain glistens on dark wool, and there they stand—someone you thought lost forever, someone you’d spent years trying to forget. The steam curls from your teapot, the lantern light flickers, and every carefully built wall around your heart threatens to crumble. Do you step forward, letting old love and old loyalties pull you back to the life you left behind? Or do you lower your gaze, pour another cup, and pretend you never saw them at all? The choice is yours.