The night was slowly giving way to morning as the old road wound through the mountains. Beyond the rugged hills, an enormous solitary rock emerged from the pale January light, standing motionless against a sky that seemed to promise something new.

He watched through the window, nervous and uncertain about the life awaiting him. Another city, unfamiliar streets and people he had yet to meet. He had travelled far enough to leave something of himself behind, though not nearly far enough to forget it. The little band he had dreamed of forming with his cousins now seemed more distant. Their instruments, their laughter and those terrible rehearsals belonged to a world he could no longer reach so easily.

Yet the music remained.

As the sun rose over the mountains, he wondered what this new beginning might bring. He was frightened, certainly, but somewhere beneath that uncertainty lived the same restless hope that had carried him this far.

For the moment, that was enough…

Record Sealed.