IV. The Winter of Long Shadows When rains finally returned, they came as a reckoning. Torrents tested dams and faith alike. Alina led flood brigades, wrapped infants in blankets while guiding rescue boats, and straightened a broken bridge with hands both deft and unflinching. Rumors spread that she could coax weather from the sky; skeptics said she merely read patterns others missed. Either way, the village survived, and with survival came an unspoken consensus: Alina’s “milky” steadied their bellies, her “hot” forged their courage.