Not fate.
Preparation meeting chance.
That night, Evan stood topside under open sky after watch. The ocean looked ordinary from there, black and endless.
He tapped three fingers lightly against the rail.
Three.
Pause.
Three.
Pause.
Two.
No answer came back.
None was needed.
He rested his hand on the steel and listened to the quiet without fearing it. The absence of a signal no longer felt like absence. Sometimes silence simply meant everyone was safely home, breathing under an open sky where no one needed to knock for help anymore.
He smiled once.
