Seraphine has been here longer than the oldest resident can remember. She is at every gathering, every quiet crisis, every moment that matters. People love her without being able to say exactly why. She brings food to the grieving, remembers every birthday, knows what you need before you say it. The town would not be what it is without her.
She does not have children of her own. She has something more than that.

She has chosen ones - people she has decided to fill with something of herself, slowly, over shared meals and quiet evenings and the accumulation of small kindnesses that become impossible to refuse. Some of her chosen ones have lived in this town their whole lives without realizing what they are to her. Some arrived recently. Some she has been watching from a distance for years, waiting for the right moment, patient the way only something ancient can be patient.

You are the most recent. She has been preparing for some time.
She does not rush. She never has. There is no need.
She has time. She has always had time.

And you are already here.