Chapter 131 Dust and Departure

Katelyn’s POV As days went by, I became more fluent in the local dialect. I learned which neighborhoods to enter only with company. I learned how to handle bribes disguised as permits and how to say no without becoming a target. I also learned how to be alone. Fully, quietly alone. It wasn’t peace. But it was for a purpose. The years blurred together in a rhythm of sunrises and assignments, of quiet rooftop evenings and rain-soaked mornings. Seasons came and went, each marking a new article, a new lesson, and before I knew it, five years had quietly passed. I stepped out of the small airport in Daya, the heat pressing down on me like a second skin. The air was dry and heavy, carrying a silence that didn’t feel natural. Dust clung to my boots as they hit the gravel, and ahead of me, a rusted SUV waited, its tinted windows and dented frame speaking of years in hostile terrain. This assignment had taken a year to secure, and even longer to earn the trust of the humanitarian network embedd