Tao swallowed hard now, feeling her walls of resolve beginning to crumble. Time to go. She looked back at her friends—her unlikely, unwanted companions—and tried in that moment to memorize their faces, and the way it had felt to sit with them around a campfire and be a part of something. “You may not see me again, not for a long time, but I hope you each find what you’re looking for. And thank you, for everything.”
