Kiersten's Arc

Chapter 32 of 33

Kiersten walked into town at midday. The path opened onto the square, and the vine-wrapped feast hall stood at the end of it, doors propped wide. Smoke drifted from the chimney. She could smell bread and onions and something sweet under both. She stopped on the step and put her hand on the doorframe. Witness sat quiet under her ribs. She went in. Foodie Gwen was at the long table, sliding a honey cake onto a wooden board. She looked up. Her face did not change much, but her hands stopped moving. "You're back," she said. "Sit. You're thin." "I'm back," Kiersten said. Gwen pointed at a bench with her knife. Kiersten sat. Emilio was already there, his little stool tucked against the bench leg. He looked at her with steady brown eyes and did not say anything for a moment. Then he said, "Your eyes are different." "They are," Kiersten said. A soft hop, and Bun buns appeared at her elbow, ears twitching. "You smell like woods," she whispered. "And stone." She climbed onto the bench and folded her hands in her lap like she'd been waiting a long time. Others came in as the smell of the cake reached the square. Sheny Melani drifted through the door on glitter wings and landed on the table's edge, careful of the bread. Light Sol ducked under the vines last. "I saw you on the path," she said. "No shadow behind you. Good." Gwen set the cake down and cut it. "Eat first. Talk after." Kiersten ate. The honey was warm. When she set the plate down, the room went quiet without being asked. "I went to learn what I was," she said. "I thought I had to become something else. I didn't. I learned I was allowed to want things. That was the first gift. I learned I could say the wants out loud. That was the second. I learned I could stand by them, even when someone I loved asked me not to. That was the third." Emilio nodded once, like he'd written it down. "A spirit came to me," Kiersten said. "I named her Witness. She lives here now." She touched the pendant at her throat. "She didn't take me over. We agreed." Sheny's wings brightened. "Agreement is the best magic," she said. "What did you bring back for us?" Bun buns asked, soft. Kiersten thought about it. "A door that stays shut when it should," she said. "And the knowing that endings aren't mine to stop. Only to meet." Gwen refilled her cup without asking. "That'll do," she said. The room moved again. Someone laughed. Emilio dragged his stool closer and sat at her knee. Kiersten felt the town settle around her like a coat that finally fit. She was home. She was still a student. Tomorrow she would begin whatever came next.