[ The instant your hand touches the lantern, the small flame blooms into a something huge and bright like an unfolding star, light flooding the Haven as well as your mind.

In that moment, the world disappears into that flash of light and it feels like the clap of landing back-first on a gym mat as your favorite pupil uses your own move against you, how surprised and delighted and above all proud you are of how strong he's become and how fast he's learned, how fun it is to get such a run for your money at this thing you started on a whim but turned into a ritual;

it feels like having someone beside you during the worst week you can remember, when people you loved died and died and died and how much it meant to you to have that steady presence to keep you going, to keep the ground under your feet and helped you put your friends back together, someone who helped you shoulder the weight so it was only heavy and not crushing, and how much you really needed that;

it feels like a team of idiots taking selfies while running from a bear and this should have been frightening but every time you remember it, you hold your face in your hands and laugh helplessly, and you hung all the selfies on the wall so you never forget;

it feels like fingers in your fur and the prickle of healing wounds, like the starched fabric of fancy dance clothes and a too-fast peck on the lips, like the presence of someone passionate as a bonfire but reliable as the earth;

it feels like love.


Your eyes adjust to the light and the Haven resolves back into place, right where you left it. The newly brightened lantern illuminates an even greater radius than before.]