When Leo stepped onto the small wooden stage, the room didn't go silent—it simmered.
"I used to think being trans meant being a puzzle with a missing piece," Leo started, his voice steadying as he looked at the faces in the crowd. "I thought I had to find that piece to be 'whole.' But being part of this community taught me that I’m not a puzzle. I’m a mosaic. Every struggle, every name I left behind, and every person in this room who held my hand when I was afraid—those are the tiles."
He looked at Jax, who was beaming from the wings. He looked at the kids in the corner, who were the future, and the elders in the front, who were the foundation.