XXV

GENTLE AS STARLIGHT

“A RUSH OF impossible warmth cascaded down my chest.

“I felt the bonds at my wrists loosened.

“I felt a hand upon my chest, like a father guiding his son to sleep.

“I felt myself falling.

“And as the wind filled my ears, as I began that long tumbling drop down into the mother’s arms, as I closed my eyes and the tears came at the thought that finally, finally, I might see them again, I felt one final sensation.

“Gentle as starlight.

“Soft as first snows upon my cheek.

“Moth wings.”