HOME, SWEET HOME — Telling the journey

She sat down beside her companions and began to tell her story.

She spoke of the village, the questions no one wanted to hear, the shame of being different. She spoke of the first time Yaseee had looked at her without fear, of Evarista’s trust, and of the tree that knew how to laugh. When she reached the Yellow Realm, she paused.

She did not want to hurry past it.

She told them how she had used the torch to take fire from other creatures. How powerful she had felt. The fear that had followed, the loneliness, the exhaustion of defending a strength that never seemed enough.

No one interrupted to tell her what she should have done. Skyblue was able to finish the story.

Then she told them how she had asked for help.

That moment, which had felt like an admission of defeat during the journey, took on an unexpected importance in the telling. She had listened to Helio again. She had remembered what her flame was for.

She went on until she reached the meadows, the cherry tree, the oak. When she mentioned the little Skyblues arguing inside her head, Aurora laughed. Feliz took her hand.

When she finished, Skyblue fell silent. Feliz was still holding her hand.