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Callie noted that everyone had changed, and love made people crazy. It certainly had made Sparrow crazy. Although, ”Do you think it really makes people crazy? I was crazy when I was dating Chadwick, but I don’t think I was crazy with Kenny.” She didn’t mention the older student she’d dated for a few weeks. That was called a tryst. It couldn’t even be considered on the tier of love.

”Or... perhaps now that they're both able to be themselves, they're able to truly encapsulate who their souls longed to be.”

Sparrow liked that. Callie noted that maybe it was all childish fiction, and Sparrow sighed a little, frowning. That was such a…such a Wren thing to say. He was always calling her a childish idiot, but honestly what was wrong with that? She had fun…or used to. She was mad that Chadwick couldn’t be who he wanted to be with her despite how hard she’d tried. Despite—actually, she wasn’t really mad about it. She couldn’t be herself with him. And Callie seemed better off with Eden too. So Finley and Chadwick…well, that wasn’t too bad, was it? “I like that better too,” she finally said, returning Callie’s soft smile. ”Our souls being able to better encapsulate who our souls long to be. It…my dad used to say, when you’re with someone right, you help each other get closer to God. Like…you help each other get closer to who you can be….who you want to be.”

Callie also agreed that Awstin wasn’t some pure evil being. Maybe he was just as scared. She didn’t know how she felt about that. Part of her wanted to tear him apart, limb from limb and throw every piece in a fire. The other part wanted to hug him and tell him…tell him that everything would be okay. Everything would definitely be okay. There was a plan here, a Good Plan, and she didn’t understand, but she could accept, and thank you thank you for saving her sister. She couldn’t really accept it. But that’s what…that what the script would say right? That’s what she was supposed to say, right?

Sparrow missed the bit mentioning that Callie herself could imagine the thoughts that might have led to Awstin becoming a killer–normally she would have bounced to hear the thought process. But she wasn’t playing Awstin on the Stage of Life. ”Lady Fate…what would his fate be? Why was everyone’s fate to die in a fire? Maybe…not every Sparrow can swim. Some sparrows can’t even fly very well. And maybe they’re just…meant to be eaten.”

Sparrow didn’t notice when Callie had climbed up onto the ramparts with her, but she cuddled closer to the little blonde girl, tucking an arm around her shoulder and steadying each other on the ledge. Callie started talking about how people weren’t just shades of grey, but all kinds of colors. Even her right now–Sparrow felt like a blob of murky gray right now, but Callie saw white and yellow and pink…clouded over, but cloudy days could be beautiful too. It sounded beautiful, but also…vivacious. The world sounded colorful. Colorful and dramatic like a decked out stage. No, it wasn’t the stage, but the actors. And when they left the stage, they still carried that light. That’s what she was saying right?

Callie squeezed her hand again. She asked Sparrow to make a promise, and caught up in the image of colors leaving the stage, Sparrow nodded with a little smile. The words fell out of her in a moment of hope. ”Of course.”

Sparrow listened quietly as Callie continued. Love made them who they were meant to be. Every soul they loved shaped them. And the traits that they passed along to those they loved could weigh them down as much as set them free. Love was insanity, a moment between life and death, standing at the brink.

“You knew him best,” Sparrow whispered back to Callie, wiping a silvery tear from Callie’s cheek. “Even if the world thinks he was terrible, you knew him as the father that raised you. You knew him best. And nothing can….no. And that will always count for something.”

She believed the words more when they weren’t about her. ““You knew his colors. Others might just see grey, but you could see his colors.”

Callie asked for a promise, saying to tell her–or tell someone–whenever she felt like she was being eaten or drowning. Or just…unable to fly. She offered herself as a nest, a home. Love was insanity. Love was light, casting light on the colors in every soul. And even in the dark of night, stars could shine.

Callie pet her hair and kissed her gently.

”I love you, Sparrow.”

The hardest thing after Aria’s death had been rememebring Ari everywhere. It had been a maul reminding Sparrow that her closest friend since birth was gone forever–or for the rest of this life. But after a while it was just the norm. Now, the hardest thing was remembering. Every day seemed like it had been before Winter Break. She’d find herself laughing or carrying on as usual. But something should be different. Something was emptier in the world.

Maybe she had needed someone to remind her that not everyone was gone. She still had Cenek, who knew her family as well as she had. And people–that strangers–could be lights as well. She and Callie hadn’t hung out very much at all, but they seemed to be kindred spirits of sorts. And maybe there was a kind of evanescent love between two kindred spirits passing in the night sky. It didn’t bring back the dead, or answer all her questions, or even make her feel too much better, but it gave her strength in hope–enough to get through the next day, the next right step. A little light in the darkness.

Sparrow returned Callie’s hug tightly. “Thank you.”

She remained that way for a few moments, drawing light from Callie’s hug until she felt like she could see the colors around them again– no, until she could see new colors. She shivered for a moment, only suddenly noticing the cold in the air. The ground, cool and damp, looked so very far away. She turned, slipping down from the ramparts and onto solid ground, gravitating towards the transfigured blankets and pillows. A distant memory of laughter and giggling suddenly flickered back into memory. “Callie, Have you ever had a pillow fight?”