Liora listened without interruption, her expression cycling through fear and wonder and fierce, protective pride in equal measure, until finally, as the last of the evening light faded entirely from the sky above them, she reached over and took his hand.
"You're going to go through with it," she said. "The full crossing. When you're ready."
"Yes," Rohan said. "I have to. There's a whole life waiting for me on the other side — parents who don't know if I'm alive, a world I never chose to leave. I can't just abandon that, not when I finally have the chance to reclaim it."
"I know." Liora's grip on his hand tightened, something steady and resolved settling into her voice despite the grief still evident beneath it. "I wouldn't ask you to stay, even if some selfish part of me wants to. You've spent this whole search fighting for exactly this. I won't be the reason you finally stop."
