Larksong Grotto Remember to remember me

They sat in silence for a long while. It was Reek that broke it first. His voice hung in the air like soiled sheets on a clothes line — heavy, and imbibed with all manner of implications. She didn't know what to say at first, but found herself answering anyway: You are my friend. Her voice cracked as she spoke, so she licked her lips for comfort and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. Her attention remained upon the lake instead of the broken man beside her, and slowly she concluded, You are all I have.

Soon she wouldn't be alone. Tavi would have to find her own way all over again, live her life for someone else, and though it was a frightening thought made more terrifying by her resolute desire to separate from Reek, she knew she couldn't fathom raising any child alongside him. Or maybe she was lying to herself? Maybe she was helping Reek in order to distract herself from the ongoing changes to her own body and the uncertain future she had begun to cultivate. Tavi inhaled a slow breath, trying to keep herself calm as she stowed her thoughts — but one prevailed, repeating on a loop despite her insistence to silence it: maybe I'm just addicted to running away.