On the beach, near the old coffee stand where they had first met, Rafael leaned against the counter, absently watching the clouds drift across the brilliant Havana sky as Mateo prepared two cups of coffee. The same Mateo who had once sold Rafael a coffee for a dollar on his first day here — now a familiar face, and a good friend.

  "You know," Rafael said after a while, "it's strange how obvious some things are, once you step outside of them."

  Mateo glanced up from the coffee machine. "Like what?"

  "Growth," Rafael said simply. "How societies grow."

  He picked up a twig and began sketching in the sand between them.

  "In the beginning, food was everything. The tribes that had food thrived. But the land could only offer so much. Once there were too many mouths and not enough wild fruit and game, something had to change."

  Mateo nodded slowly, listening.

  "That’s when people began to plant, to cultivate. The old way had reached its limit. They didn’t abandon it because they wanted to, but because they had to. Growth had to find a new path."

  Rafael drew a wider circle in the sand.

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  "And then later, when farming ruled the world, land became the new treasure. Whoever held land held power. Kingdoms rose, borders were drawn, battles fought — all over soil. But land, too, had limits. After every valley and plain was claimed, after every forest was cleared, there wasn’t much left to divide. Some families even made laws to leave all their land to a single heir, just to avoid splitting it into pieces too small to survive on."

  Mateo leaned on the counter, intrigued.

  "And then?" he asked.

  "Then," Rafael smiled, "a few stubborn souls found another way. They built workshops, crafted goods, traded and sold. They created wealth from their labor, not their land. Markets became the new frontier, and for a long time, that made sense. When there were new cities to build, new nations to supply, it worked beautifully."

  He let the words hang for a moment, watching a small bird peck at crumbs near the stand.

  "But markets, too, have their limits," he said quietly. "When every place is connected, when every shelf is stocked, when every customer already has what they need... the old ways of growing strain and stumble. People still work hard. They still build and sell. But the ground beneath them no longer stretches endlessly ahead. It's different now."

  Mateo poured himself a small cup of coffee and raised it slightly.

  "Sounds familiar," he said.

  Rafael glanced up and added, almost casually,

  "In my home, we've learned to grow in another way. Not by conquering land, not by chasing endless sales, but by strengthening each other. Investing in lives, in knowledge, in the good we can share. It’s not something we argue about much. It’s just... obvious, when you live it."

  They stood there for a while, watching the endless waves roll in and out, in no hurry to be anywhere else.

  Mateo sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "Sounds like you already found your path," he said.

  "We have," Rafael agreed. "But the world as a whole... it's still standing at a crossroads."