Outside, Tbilisi was waking. The sulfur baths steamed. A street dog barked at nothing. And somewhere, a pomegranate split open in the sun—not to bleed, but to scatter.
Year two: his sister, Nino, started seeing the boy from the hills. A gentle one. Until he wasn’t. Until Lasha came home to find her staring at a wall, her hands folded like broken wings. the fruit of grisaia qartulad
She sat beside him. “Then why stay in the garden?” Outside, Tbilisi was waking
That was year one.