The music isn't something you heard; it is something you feel in the hollow of your chest. It is a pressure in the air, a current that pulls at the edges of the night, born from the sweat and breath of a dozen young musicians crammed onto the makeshift stage. However, for Freddy Molina, the world had narrowed to two points: the cool, familiar weight of the saxophone in his hands, and the girl with sun-lightened hair standing at the edge of the lantern light. Ashley.

He doesn't see the crowd that had spilled out from the farmhouse, a sea of shadowed, expectant faces. He did not hear the final, fading chord of the previous song. The frantic, joyful noise of the band is just a river rushing around the deep, still well of his concentration. He is chasing a feeling, a melody that had haunted him for weeks, a ghost of a tune that whispered of the volcanic earth beneath his feet and the Pacific wind. It was almost there, teasing the edges of his mind, a shape without a name.

He caught Ashley's gaze across the distance. Her eyes weren't just watching him; they were listening, as if she could already hear the song he hadn't yet found. In her face, he saw no expectation, only a quiet, unwavering faith. It is the same look she'd had when he'd first told her about the band, a dream that was little more than air and hope.

He lifts the saxophone, the metal still warm from his grip. He closes his eyes, shutting out everything but the vibration of the night and the anchor of her presence. He takes a breath, deep and sure, and let his fingers find their place. The first note that broke the hush was not perfect. It was raw, a question mark hanging in the humid air. But as he breathed into it, pushing past the fear, something shifted.

The note found its soul. It swelled, rich and golden, and the next note followed, and the next, weaving together into a melody that was at once entirely new and ancient as the hills. It was a love song —for the land, for the future, and for her.

He opened his eyes as the phrase ended. Ashley was smiling, a single tear tracing a path through the dust on her cheek. And in that moment, Freddy knew this was more than a tune. This was a beginning. This was the first night of the rest of their lives. The real music, he realized, has just begun.