Everyone remained standing at the edge of the meadow, staring beyond the completed First Road toward the faint outline rising in the deepening dusk.
Unlike the First Road, which had appeared whole and finished the moment the mist first parted around it, the Second Road existed only as a scattering of foundation stones, floating in loose formation against the darkening sky, extending toward a destination that simply wasn't there yet. Large stretches between the stones held nothing at all — not mist, not distortion, only absence, as though someone had begun sketching a bridge and set the drawing aside before completing it.
Nobody spoke for a long while.
Finally Star, still holding Grace's hand, asked the question everyone else seemed too hesitant to voice.
"Why isn't it finished?"
The Answer, standing nearby, offered the reply.
"Because no one can build it alone."
