By the time the Wakandan aircraft landed on the Lakeside Estate's private helipad, it was already the morning of the third day.
Lin Xiao walked down the ramp, and the cool morning breeze swept against his face, carrying moisture from the lake. The air smelled of pine and damp earth. A thin mist shrouded the distant lake like a soft veil. The estate was quiet, so quiet he could hear the wind rustling through the treetops and the occasional cry of a waterbird across the lake.
Su Ying followed behind him and gently squeezed his hand.
"Are you all right?" she asked softly.
Lin Xiao nodded, but his gaze had already turned toward the lakeside clearing deeper within the estate. A small gathering stood there, around twenty people, all familiar faces. There were no reporters, no camera flashes, no commotion—Pepper had insisted on that. Tony had hated those hollow ceremonies most of all.
They followed the gravel path over.
A simple wooden platform had been erected in the middle of the clearing. On it rested a transparent container holding the reactor from Tony's armor—not the Nanotech Version he had last worn on his hand, but the earlier First-Generation Arc Reactor, the circular device that had once kept him alive and later become his symbol. The reactor had been carefully fashioned into a wreath, surrounded by white lilies and blue forget-me-nots, glowing softly in the morning light.
Pepper stood before the platform.
She wore a simple black dress and no makeup. Her face was pale and her eyes were red and swollen, but she stood straight. She held her daughter Morgan's hand—the little girl wore a small black dress and clutched a Plush Rabbit. Her eyes were wide, as though she did not quite understand what had happened yet, but could