I said our hearts know deeper seasons than our memories
Larke still doesn’t feel like she knows which way is up anymore.
This is her home but it doesn’t feel like home. She is starting to learn the paths and she knows that she will soon need to call a meeting so that she can meet all of her new family, but she hasn’t yet built up the nerve to do so. Instead, she just bites it back and keeps to herself. She follows the trails and learns to fall in love with the way that the beaches light up blue when the moon hangs high overhead.
Still, she finds herself looking out across the water.
She finds herself longing for the peaceful days of her youth.
For wandering around Tephra with her brother, with the quiet afternoons spent with Midnight, with the way Malone could make her laugh until her sides hurt. She misses them, and yet she finds herself alone.
So when she sees Midnight stepping down onto the island across a bridge so bright that it makes her eyes ache, she nearly doesn’t believe it’s him. She blinks against the sun and shakes her head before her smile grows wide. She steps forward, high stepping several steps before she begins to run, laughing.
The sand sprays behind her as she comes to a sliding stop, pressing into him without a thought.
“Midnight,” she exhales as she embraces her old friend, pressing her cheek against his wide back. “You have grown so much. I nearly didn’t recognize you.” She sighs with relief as she relaxes against him.
“I have missed you so much.”
