In a forgotten valley where no maps dared to go, there grew a forest with silver leaves and whispering trees. The villagers called it the Forest That Remembered, for it could hold the memories of those who passed through.
Every year, a child was chosen to bring their memory to the forest. This year, it was a quiet girl named Maren, who had recently lost her grandmother. Her heart ached with silence, for she missed the way her grandmother told stories of stars and shadows.
Maren entered the forest with her memory—a locket holding her grandmother’s laugh. She sat beneath a tree and whispered it into the bark. The tree glowed softly, and the wind carried her voice through the canopy.
Suddenly, a path of memory opened. Maren saw echoes of her grandmother dancing with fireflies, sewing stars into the sky, and smiling as if she were still alive. The forest had not only remembered, it had kept her.
From that day on, Maren became the Forest Keeper, guiding others to plant their memories and find comfort in the leaves. And every now and then, when the wind rustled just right, she heard her grandmother’s laugh in the trees.
