Twelfth Knight

by Alexene Farol Follmuth

“But the thing is, Vi, wanting someone in your life doesn’t have to mean you’re weak. It doesn’t mean you’re soft. It just means there’s someone in this world who makes you like everything just a little bit more when they’re with you, and in the end, isn’t that something?” She looks at me again, half smiling. “Life is hard enough without depriving yourself of joy.”

which is that being something Vi Reyes cares about is worth the effort. When she loves something, she loves deeply, thoughtfully, and generously, and she gives back what she gets, tenfold.