Hugging Karla and Dinah had helped a lot, and now Jono as well. They were all real and alive and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure they stayed that way.

"I will," she whispered. "I have just never felt like this before." When she'd lost Azar, she hadn't been allowed to grieve. Even when she'd thought her mother was dead, she'd still been practically a stranger, and when Didi had died, she had transformed into a new form. This was the first time a friend was truly gone that she'd been allowed to feel such sadness.

"I am sorry that I ever made you feel this kind of sorrow," she said. Because of course she would apologize for that, but she couldn't help but feel guilty for being responsible for such grief.