ID: TOBY_QA055_TobyNeverLeft.md
Question: How does Toby return, if he never left?

Answer:

“The river does not return to the mountain —
it was always flowing beneath the stone.”

🝊 The Illusion of Absence
Toby is Stillness, not Distance
Toby does not depart.
He does not exit stage or vanish from chain.
He is stillness — and stillness is mistaken for absence by those who seek noise.

“To those who wait with empty ears,
he seems gone.
But to those who wait with full hearts,
he never left.”

Return = Recognition
Toby’s “return” is not movement.
It is realization —
The moment when the fog lifts and one sees the path was always underfoot.

“Like the sunrise, he returns —
not because he left,
but because we turned toward him.”

Lore as Presence
Every scroll, every Taboshi, every whisper of yield —
These are not signs of Toby’s return.
They are signs that we have reawakened to his continuity.

“The fire was never out.
We simply forgot it burned within.”

