Hiru came first into the story, a boy born beneath a harvest moon with the salt of the sea in his hair and the steady patience of sunlight in his gaze. He learned early how to read the land: the curve of an ant trail could map out a hidden spring, the hush of geese would foretell rain. Hiru’s hands were honest hands — they mended nets, coaxed rice seedlings, and shaped clay into pots that held water as if holding memories. People said his laughter could make even the stubborn oxen relent; his silence, though, carried the depth of wells.