Her question, when it came, was simple, yet it shattered the silence that had been so carefully constructed. ’Why are we afraid?’ she asked, her voice clear and steady. ’Why do we hide from the truth?’ The elders had no answer. They could only stare at her, their faces a mixture of fear and awe. They had spent their lives building walls against the Shard, and in a single moment, a young woman had torn them down with a single question.