CHAPTER 54

NCANEZWE CELE.

The morning air tastes different.

Not lighter. Not heavier. Just… honest. Like the world isn't bending beneath him anymore, but standing firmly on its own legs and asking him to do the same. Ncanezwe steps out of the rondavel with his bag slung over his shoulder. The sun is only beginning to rise, washing the sky in warm gold, the kind of gold that feels like a new beginning.

Nhlokwemamba's yard is quiet—peaceful in a way that becomes part of a man if he stays long enough. And Ncanezwe did stay long… long enough to lose his mind, then find it again. A car engine hums at the gate. Ncanezwe's heart kicks once. Qhawe. His little brother. The one he hurt. The one he almost killed. The one who stayed anyway.