Amma’s eyes were bright with tears that refused to fall. “Names,” she whispered, and the word sounded like a door closing and opening at once.
Rhea put her hand over the coin in her pocket, feeling the faint pulse that all good stories leave behind: a promise that some things—names, choices, the simple act of telling—can last longer than a single life. Not because they make you immortal, but because they make you remembered.
“Tell it,” Amma said, but now her voice had the echo of a chorus. It wasn’t a question.
They laughed—nervous, incredulous—the way people laugh when they don’t know whether disbelief is an armor or an invitation. Outside, a dog barked and was answered by the city. Inside, they passed the coin like a story, palm to palm. No one spoke of keeping it forever. No one asked the impossible question about what immortality would cost.