“I will remember what we are,” she said. “I will keep the thought alight in my heart, like a candle. And when our lives darken, I will use it to guide me through. I will remember that we are not what is done to us. We are, and always have been, more than that.” Her voice softened as they stared back at her—grief and rage and something like hope in their faces. “That is what I will do. “We will not die bravely and needlessly,” she said. “But we will not lose hope. That is what it means to be Ahiranyi, whether the yaksa know it or not. When they destroy us, somehow we will always grow anew. Have
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