took my time startling her, sipping whiskey to calm my nerves. To calm my nerves? I hadn’t been nervous since… since never. She noticed me and rose onto her knees, raising the skeptical brow I’d elicited hundreds of thousands of times. It wasn’t the alcohol warming me then. Hi, she said, I think. I could only offer her a nod and curated stone face. Do you see me? Remember me, Mortala. Say you remember.
