Uh oh, here comes the stinky FallenHolly shipping!


I returned to check on Hollyleaf in the morning to find she was already moving about and stretching. She bounded over to me with surprising energy, eyes bright.

"You seem..." I tried to find the words. "Happy?"

She smiled but averted her gaze. "I guess so. I just got a lot of sleep."

Sleep. If there was one thing I missed about being alive, it was the feeling of absolute tranquility. True peace; I missed it so.

"Can we talk?" I asked tentatively. "About what happened during the race?"

"There's not much to say. I had spent so long resting, waiting for my leg to heal, that the sudden movement overwhelmed me. I panicked."

I could not understand, but I did not wish to pressure her further. I was just glad she was okay; well, as okay as the Hopeless One could be.

The air was rife with tension as neither of us spoke or made eye contact. I could hear the wall-spirits' inscrutable mumbling louder than my own thoughts. The silence was everywhere and unrelenting.

"I took a wrong turn." The words came naturally from her, like they required no forethought. Like the sentence had formed independently of her mind. "I got... I got lost. Will that happen again? What if... The next time I got lost... You couldn't find me?"

I embraced her again, like I had when I had found her before. She squirmed defiantly at first, but as the warmth of my material form spread through her own body she stilled.

"I can always find you. I know these tunnels, and I think..."

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm starting to know you, too."