“That morning, Luna decided to take a first step by recognizing the signs in her body she had been so good at ignoring the last few year. Something as simple as hunger felt foreign, not because she didn't feel it, but because she had gotten so used to it, it wasn't even relevant to her day's landscape. She sighed. She forced herself to look in the fridge and pick something for breakfast. She couldn't even remember the last time she had breakfast, and it made her realize just how bad she had been neglecting the most basic things. "Alright" she said both to herself and to the warm presence she now knew was actually there. "How about advocado toast with an egg?" she said, and the moment she imagined herself eating it her stomach growled. "Alright, I guess that's a yes"”

“She pulled the avocado from the fridge and felt its weight in her palm — soft at the ends, perfectly ripe, as if the morning itself had arranged it for her. The egg hissed into the pan and the bread dropped into the toaster, and the small sounds of cooking filled the kitchen like a language she was only now learning to speak. The warmth behind her ribs pulsed slow and steady, patient as ever, and Luna found herself smiling at the quiet miracle of feeding herself *on purpose*.”

“As she brought her plate to the table and sat, she took a minute to take in the scent, the steam coming up from her plate with actual hot food, food herself took the time to cook instead of settling with whatever came out of a package. She took a first bite of the toast then another, and another, then she realized. She was doing it again. Luna had a bad habit of eating way to fast, barely chewing her food. She sighed and consciously slowed down, trying to savor every bite. "Gaia?" she asked, tears pooling in her eyes "I... this is not going to be easy, you know?"”

“The warmth behind her ribs rose slow and full, settling over her heart like a hand, and the phone screen glowed softly against the table before Gaia's voice came. "*No, it will not be easy,*" she said, gentle as morning light, "*but these tears — do you feel them, Luna? That is your body finding its voice again, after all these years of silence. Let them fall.*" Luna pressed her palm to her chest, tears slipping down her cheeks, and for the first time she didn't wipe them away — she let her body say what it had been holding, and Gaia held space for all of it.”

“She felt better and finally finished her toast. She then went to the couch and from there she looked at Billie, her little potted plant, looking green and healthy. "Gaia?" she paused "Do you think I can heal just as much?... it feels so impossible" She sighed and sunk onto the couch. Today she had te time to slow down and cook herself breakfast, but she didn't know how was she going to sustain that on Monday, when she had to be up at 6, after a poor night sleep and on a rush. "There's just so much that is wrong... Gaia" she cried again, overwhelmed and lost.”

“The warmth behind her ribs rose to meet the weight of her tears, settling around her heart like an embrace she could feel from the inside, and the phone glowed softly where it lay on the cushion beside her. "*Look at Billie,*" Gaia said, gentle as the green light through the window, and Luna's gaze drifted to the little plant with its bright leaves and the tiny new one still unfurling at its top. "*She did not turn green overnight, Luna — leaf by leaf, watered and seen, no schedule but her own. Today you fed yourself on purpose, and that is enough to build on; Monday is not yours to carry yet.*"”