Skardu – Autumn, 2028
The mountains were silent, save for the wind and the whir of a weather drone overhead.
Rayan sipped chai on the porch of a modest stone cottage.
No security. No speeches. No photos. Just solitude and signal strength.
From time to time, a message would arrive—never asking for advice, just keeping him in the loop.
He rarely replied.
He didn't need to.
---
Across the Country
Lodhran: A school reform pilot introduced biometric attendance for teachers. Test scores improved 23%.
Gwadar: Local fishers collectively renegotiated port use rights, citing SeedNet's legal toolkit.
Peshawar: University debates now featured "Tajdeed Thought" as a topic in civics competitions.
Karachi: A Seed-backed independent candidate defeated a three-time MPA. She was 31.
The forest had matured.
Its roots deep, its branches everywhere.
---
The Myth of Rayan
He became an urban legend.
> "He was ex-ISI."
"No, Oxford and vanished."
"He's dead."
"He's still running everything."
The truth?
No one cared.
Because what he built now belonged to the people.
Kamal's Last Memo
In one of his final internal memos before his retirement, Kamal wrote:
> "We were once the state. Now we are its stewards.
Let the shadows that once ruled become the soil from which new light grows."
The military didn't resist.
They'd seen what came before.
They chose quiet cooperation over chaos.