The Sun rose above the mountains this morning like a quiet star, glowing with four steady flares. Its harsh, blinding light was softened by the thin mountain air and the gentle veil of mist that lingered across the ridges. Down in the valley, clouds had gathered and seemed trapped — curled and folded between the slopes as if resting there for a while. The air carried a crisp stillness, that kind of early-hour silence when even the birds wake slowly, […]

