On one of my mountain hikes, I met the the only surviving character from Rujana's story, which has now become a legend. A 90-year-old man told me that he came every day to that place under the ancient oak tree, where he was once suddenly parted from his sweetheart.

How many times his heart shook, in a silence augmented by loneliness. And this loneliness became his choice, along with the remembrance of those fatal words, which continued to haunt him.

'You'll turn into leaves, Rujana!'