A Fragile Enchantment

by Allison Saft

For everyone taking it day by day

It was such a small thing to try to give them the comfort they’d never had as children. It was such a small thing to be good.

She’d hoped for a better life here. But a better life, she realized now, came with a thousand smaller hardships.

Tonight had shown her balls were not for her, and she had no need for suitors. She’d only bring suffering to any fool who fell in love with her. As much as she yearned to be cared for, she was not that selfish. No good came from loving fragile things.

the look of a man who had finally realized the worst of his weaknesses lived outside himself.

“I am so afraid, Kit. I am afraid that I will fail, despite all the pains I have taken. I am afraid I will let everyone down. And deep down, I am afraid that I am horribly, irredeemably selfish because I am so afraid that I will die without having let myself live at all.”

You don’t need to work yourself to the bone. You don’t need to do things for people before you ever think to do a thing for yourself. Whatever you think you have to prove or earn, it’s all in your head. Your existence alone is enough. And if you believe you’ve made no difference at all to anyone, you’re even more clueless than I thought.”

“Is this a dream?” “I don’t know,” he said huskily, his eyes aglow. “Let me kiss you until dawn, and I suppose we’ll find out.”

“Stop criticizing yourself and undercutting your own achievements. Stop cutting off pieces of yourself, when you’re already more than good enough.”

“You are so full of life, Niamh. The wide-open way you smile. The way you dance through empty rooms. How you put all of yourself into everything you do. I feel like I’ve lived a thousand years in the time I’ve known you. I feel like I’m awake for the very first time. Even if you were gone tomorrow, even if you took my heart with you when you went, I wouldn’t regret a single moment I’ve spent with you. How could I? You’ve changed me. I will carry you with me forever.”