"Do you ever wish you were somewhere else?" Saxon asks, bright eyes and fumbling fingers and a bottle of alcohol pressed against his lips.
There's a spanless infinity between the gaps between the question and Kenie's answer as he looks his friend in the face. "Whadya mean, Saxon?"
"I don't know." But he does. (and so does Kenzie)
Kenzie thinks, him-and-me and Barkstone and shooting stars glittering as they arc across the open sky. He thinks, LieamCelanweGwendolynSadie&theGuard and the meaning of forever— other worlds that he can't go back to, because sometimes peace lasts and adventures don't.
(and all that's left is home)
He doesn't forget any of the battles or the missions or the near-death experiences.
"Never."