Chapter 79 - Don't Shrink
Silas didn't have to ask where she was.
He felt it.
The shift in her before he even saw her.
Athena stood alone near one of the inner balconies, staring out across the valley like she wasn't seeing it at all. Her arms were wrapped around herself, shoulders slightly rounded inward.
Smaller.
Silas approached quietly.
"You're shrinking," he said.
She didn't turn.
"I don't know how not to," she admitted.
He stepped beside her.
Close enough that she could feel him without looking.
"They keep looking at me like I'm something important," she whispered. "And all I can think is... they're wrong."
Silas's jaw tightened.
"They are not wrong."
Athena shook her head.
"I've spent my whole life trying to be small enough for other people. Quiet enough. Obedient enough. Acceptable enough."
Her voice trembled.
"I don't know how to be anything else."
Silas turned her gently by the shoulders so she had to face him.
"You don't get to shrink here," he said firmly.
His voice wasn't harsh.
It was certain.
Athena's eyes filled.
"I don't feel like someone they should bow to."
Silas stepped closer.
"They are not bowing to a title."
His hand came up to cradle her jaw gently, forcing her to hold his gaze.
"They are bowing to you."
The words hit her harder than anything else had.
She searched his eyes.
Looking for doubt.
Finding none.
"They see what you are," he continued. "What you've done. How you move through this place. How you care for them without thinking."
Athena's breathing slowed.
Something inside her began to settle.
Not into fear.
Into clarity.
"I don't want to feel small anymore," she said quietly.
Silas nodded once.
"Then don't."
She swallowed hard.
Her shoulders straightened slightly.
A small shift.
But a real one.
"I'm tired of letting other people decide how much space I'm allowed to take up," she admitted.
Silas's expression softened.
"Then take up all of it."
Athena let out a shaky breath.
And for the first time...
She didn't feel like the girl who had spent her life trying to disappear.
She felt like someone who was allowed to stand tall.
Like someone who was done letting the past make her feel less than what she was.
"I will never let anyone make me feel small again," she said.
And this time...
She believed it.