Chapter 161: Welcome Home, Lady Calista

The three armored SUVs glided through District 3. Unlike District 1’s glass skyscrapers, this part of the capital was quiet, green, and historic. High stone walls, ancient cedar trees, and sprawling estates lined the cobblestone avenues.

In the back seat of the center vehicle, Calista kept her face turned toward the window. Her slender fingers gripped the soft wool of her sweater, her silver eyes taking in every gate, statue, and garden wall.

"Everything looks just like I remember," Calista murmured softly. "Before the cartel took me... I used to ride past these roads with my father every week."

Amber reached across the seat, giving Calista’s hand a reassuring squeeze. "Now you’re coming back with people who will never let anyone hurt you again."

Calista looked over at Amber, offering a grateful smile. Beside them, Zephyra watched the quiet streets through the tinted glass, her violet eyes scanning the rooftops and alleyways out of habit.

A moment later, the convoy slowed to a halt along a tree-lined avenue.

Ahead stood thirty-foot wrought-iron gates shaped like blooming constellations, tangled in wild silver ivy. Faint blue runes flickered along the dark metal bars, dormant but intact.

"We have arrived, Chairman," the driver said, shifting the vehicle into park.

Evren unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out into the fresh morning air. The sweet scent of flowering jasmine and damp earth drifted on the breeze.

Behind the SUV, the guard opened the trunk, carefully lifting out Calista’s magitech wheelchair and unfolding the lightweight frame onto the pavement.

Evren walked around the vehicle and opened the rear door. He leaned in, unfastened Calista’s seatbelt, and slid one arm beneath her knees and the other around her shoulders.

"Ready?" Evren asked softly.

Calista nodded with a faint blush. Smoothly, she wrapped both arms around his neck, resting her head against his shoulder as he lifted her out of the cabin.

Her upper body was strong and steady now. She held onto him with complete ease as Evren carried her across the pavement and set her gently into the cushioned chair.

Instead of walking toward the gates himself, Evren reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the four-inch brass master key. He held it out to Calista, resting the cool, engraved metal on her palm.

"This is your family’s home, Calista," Evren said with a warm smile. "You should be the one to open the doors."

Calista stared down at the key, her vision blurring with tears. Her fingers curled around the brass, feeling the familiar weight of House Vesper’s legacy.

"Thank you, Evren," she whispered in an emotion-filled voice.

She pressed the control ring on the armrest. The chair lifted an inch off the ground, humming quietly as it glided toward the center of the iron gates.

Calista raised her arm without a hint of tremor, inserted the brass key into the star-shaped lock, aligning the teeth, and turned it clockwise.

A soft chime echoed down the quiet street.

The runes flared into radiant azure starlight, cycling through ancient authentication sequences. With a deep mechanical groan, the heavy iron gates slowly swung inward, parting for their true owner for the first time in over two years.

"Welcome home, Lady Calista," Zephyra said softly, stepping up beside the chair.

Evren signaled the guards to maintain a defensive perimeter outside the gates. Then, together with Amber and Zephyra, he walked alongside Calista as she crossed the threshold into the twelve-acre sanctuary.

The moment they passed the gates, the city noise vanished, replaced by the tranquil rustle of leaves and the gentle trickle of water.

In front of them were large crystal domes that let in the soft morning sunlight over wide stone paths and stepped gardens. Glowing moss covered the ground, and rare star-bushes and medicinal ferns swayed gently in the quiet breeze.

Calista took a deep breath. The scent of crushed pine, astral herbs, and living earth filled her lungs, instantly banishing the lingering memory of the cold vats in District 11.

A broken sob tore from her throat. Tears spilled down her cheeks, dripping onto her lavender sweater.

"It’s still alive..." she cried softly, pressing a hand over her mouth. "The soil, the plants... they survived."

Amber walked beside the chair, drawing a silk handkerchief from her pocket and gently dabbing the tears from Calista’s face. "Your great-grandfather built this place to last, Calista. And now it belongs to you again."

"No one is ever going to take this from you," Zephyra added, looking up at the soaring glass arches with quiet respect.

Calista wiped her eyes, nodding through her tears. "Let’s go to the central dome. That’s where my family spent our days."

Guided by Calista, the group walked along the flagstone path toward the heart of the conservatory. They passed alchemical greenhouses and rows of rare medicinal flora until they reached the largest crystal dome in the complex.

Beneath the soaring glass ceiling stood the Star-Arbor Sanctuary.

At the center sat an elevated marble terrarium filled with soil that sparkled like the night sky. Growing proudly in the middle was a magnificent ten-foot tree with a translucent emerald trunk and star-shaped leaves.

"The Astral Star-Jade Tree," Calista whispered, guiding her chair to the marble border.

She leaned forward, reaching out her hand. Her fingertips brushed against the smooth emerald bark of the seventy-year mother tree.

The moment her skin touched the bark, a soft pulse of silver-blue light rippled through the trunk. The star-shaped leaves began to shimmer, rustling in a gentle wave as if welcoming her home.

"It recognizes you," Evren said with a warm smile.

"The Star-Weaver mana runs through my blood," Calista smiled, her eyes shining as faint starlight motes settled over her hair. "My grandfather planted this tree when he was young. It knows its gardener."

She paused, turning her chair toward an elevated cedar pavilion built beside the marble terrarium.

Surrounded by glass railings and overlooking the mother tree, the pavilion had once served as the family’s private study. Resting at the center of the wooden floor was an antique grand piano, covered by a heavy velvet stasis cloth.

Calista’s breath caught in her throat. "Mother’s piano..."

Evren walked up the shallow cedar steps. He pulled back the velvet cloth in one smooth motion, revealing the polished mahogany finish and ivory keys preserved beneath the conservatory’s wards.

Calista pressed the control ring, guiding her magitech chair up the wooden ramp onto the pavilion. She stopped right in front of the keyboard, staring at the keys in stunned silence.

"Before the cartel raided our home... I used to play here every afternoon while my mother tended the star-sprouts," Calista said. "When they shattered my spine and locked me in chains, I used to dream about the sound of these keys. During those two years in captivity, the nerve tremors were so bad I couldn’t even hold a spoon."

She looked down at her hands. Her fingers were smooth, slender, and completely steady.

"Play for us, Calista," Amber encouraged softly, stepping onto the pavilion with Zephyra. "Show your mother that you’re back."

Evren nodded gently. "Go ahead. The conservatory is listening."

Calista took a deep breath. She lifted both hands, hovering her fingers above the ivory keys before pressing down.