The night grew too still. And then—slowly, as if it were sinking through water—a golden fruit dropped from on high. She caught it in both hands. With a gasping sob, she sank her teeth into the flesh. A feeling like dying and coming to life. The blood of the tree spreading over her tongue, soothing the blaze in her throat. Veins turning to gold. As quickly as it quenched one fire, it sparked another, a fire that torched through her whole being. And the heat cracked her open, like the clay she was, and made her body cry out to the world. All around her, the world answered.
