Luna was one hundred and five when she finally accepted that this was her permanent state. Five years of hoping her memories might return, that her emotional capacity might heal, that she might somehow recover what she'd sacrificed. Five years of disappointed hope gradually transforming into acceptance.
"You're grieving yourself," a healer told her during a therapy session. "Mourning the Luna who existed before the transformation. That's valid grief even though you're still physically alive."
"How do I grieve someone who is me? How do I mourn my own loss while still existing?"
"The same way you'd grieve any profound change. Acknowledge what's gone, accept what remains, build life from current reality rather than past possibility."
Luna tried to follow that advice. She stopped attemptin
