Summer Sun's Arc

Chapter 14 of 15

The next morning Summer Sun kept her promise to herself. She walked to the bramble cottage with empty hands and no plan in her head. She did not creep to the window this time. She went around to the front of the house and knocked on the door. When Matilda opened it, the polka-dot hat was still on her head, tilted over one eye. Summer Sun bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a laugh. Matilda looked at her for a long moment. Then she stepped aside and said, "Go ahead." Summer Sun did not know what she meant. She followed Matilda inside. The kettle was already on. Two cups sat on the table, which meant Matilda had heard her coming up the path and set out a second one. Summer Sun sat down. She did not compliment the hat. She did not ask about the moonbloom root or the raven or anything else. She had come with nothing, and she meant to keep it that way. Matilda poured. The steam rose between them. "Go ahead and laugh," Matilda said. "You've been holding it since the door." Summer Sun looked up. Matilda's face was flat, but her eyes were steady on hers. It was permission, not a dare. Summer Sun let the laugh out. It was small at first, then bigger, and by the end she had a hand pressed to her mouth. Matilda did not laugh with her. She watched, and she nodded once, as if a thing had been settled. "I know it's a stupid hat," she said. "I like it." "I like it too," Summer Sun said. She meant it. That was all. They drank the tea. Matilda talked a little about the root that kept getting eaten and the raven she still could not catch. She did not ask for help and Summer Sun did not offer any. When the cups were empty Summer Sun stood up and said goodbye and walked home in the afternoon light. She had not made Matilda laugh today. Matilda had made her laugh instead, and had watched her do it without flinching. Something had turned. Summer Sun did not yet know the shape of it. She only knew that for the first time in a long chase, she was not the one holding the joke.