Astoria, having completed her seemingly impossible task, stood by the coffin, her eyes filled with an intelligence that seemed to transcend the boundary between man and beast. It was as if she had known all along that something was amiss.

The murmurs began to rise again, a cacophony of confusion and panic as people tried to make sense of what they had witnessed. But amidst the chaos, I felt a strange calmness envelop me. My husband was gone, yes, but perhaps this was his final gift to me and to Astoria—a mystery that we would solve together, a last adventure to bring us peace.