{Viola}

"This isn't major league baseball, Hellie!" I'm shouting across the field, both hands cupped around my mouth. "You're going to throw Joshua off balance if you keep catapulting your Noise at him like that!"

Hellie shouts an apology from where she stands on the other side of the field, but I can tell by the way she's laughing that she intended to throw a ball of Noise at her husband. He caught it, after all, and was now laughing along with her, an indication that they'd mastered using their Noise together, and were now having fun with it. Hadn't Todd and I done that together, too? Instead of reprimanding her, I simply smile. Wave a hand high in the air.

"No problem, Hellie! You two have fun!" I shout. She doesn't respond to me, and instead, goes back to playing around with Joshua. It's the first time I turn my back to her, and the other women who've mastered their Noise, without having to worry.

"You leavin' so soon?!"

I turn around at the sound of Iris's voice, who is now jogging away from her husband, Nicholas, and running over to me. I look down at her hands, still glowing with residual Noise, and have to hold back my own tears while thinking…

Finally.

"I've got to get back." I say to her, even though my return home isn't that urgent. After our conversation with the Elder Spackle, Todd and Ben went back to our place in order to sort out the next council meeting. I was supposed to stay and discuss with them, too, but I'd been too excited and restless, thinking about what the future held for us, wanting to do something to prepare us for it. Todd read this in my Noise right away; placed a hand on my bouncing knee and confirmed what I'd been thinking all along –

Go on. Go teach them. We've got this handled here.

The women weren't supposed to know about our agreement with the Elder Spackle, yet, and would need to be out of the house in order for Todd and Ben to carry on with the conversation. Sophie and Sean needed to get outside, anyways, and shake off some of the fear that they'd endured the previous night. Looking over Iris's shoulder, I could see the brother and sister duo chasing each other in the field, running circles around their parents who laid back in the grass, looking up at the sky. Unlike Hellie and Iris, Val and her husband weren't playing with their Noise, but instead, they sat with it, letting it flow between each other. Todd and I had done that when we first got our Noise, too, letting hours, even days go by without speaking a word to each other. Having that sort of connection with someone else, with someone that you loved, and someone who loved you back, spoke entirely for itself.

I smile at Iris, grateful that she, and the other women, could experience that now, too –

And for the all the other people who were yet to come.

"Aw, okay." Iris said, pouting playfully. "I guess we'll see you around, then?"

I start to nod, and tell her yes, but Iris steps forward and pulls me into a hug before I can. I close my eyes, and even though it's only for a second, I squeeze her tight, feelings of gratitude and pride and love and happiness not only tightening around my Noise, but also in my heart.

"Of course, Iris. I'll always be around." I tell her. A promise that I am almost certain I can keep.

Iris goes back to the others, but when I walk away, I don't go in the direction of the house. Instead, I make my way to the forest, intending to spend the rest of the afternoon in the only other place I can find some solitude – Todd and I's rock. For a moment I think to let Todd know where I'm headed, but something tells me that he'll know where to find me, without even having to reach out. I smile at the thought of this; even before Todd and I shared Noise together, he always seemed to know what I was thinking, where I was going, where I would be next. It made me wonder if a person even needed Noise in order to understand someone else – all it takes is patience, and understanding, and enough love for someone else to listen. To really listen –

After hiking through the forest, and being met with the slow, steady rhythm of the river's waves, I see that Todd has made it to the rock before me –

And I can see through my Noise that he's smiling.

Are yer stalkin' me, now? He asks without looking at me, and I shake my head in playful disbelief. When I walk up to the rock, Todd finally looks down at me, smiling and extending a hand to help me up. I take it willingly, and a small light flickers in our palms as he pulls me next to him. Once I'm sitting, I let go of his hand, and use a small portion of the power our Noise made to playfully shove his shoulder.

What was that for?! He complains, holding onto his shoulder, and I laugh.

For reading my mind without letting me know. I say. How'd you know I was going to be out here?

Other than the fact that I can read yer mind? He asks, looking at me with eyebrows raised. I just know you, Viola.

I give him a sarcastic smile, even though it's the truth, then lean back onto my palms and stretch my legs out. Close my eyes and lift my face towards the warm sun.

I don't think the women need me to help with their Noise, anymore. I say to Todd, my eyes still closed. I can see in my Noise that he's looking at me, though.

Of course they don't. He says, then nudges me with his elbow. They had the best teacher there is.

I don't know about that. I say, and then, I open my eyes, look over at Todd. It's not like I've known how to use it my whole life, or anything. I've had a pretty good teacher, too.

Todd smiles before taking my chin in his hand, then leans over, closing the distance between us, to kiss me. I smile and place my forehead against his afterwards, and he puts his hand over mine that sits on the rock, a small, steady glow of Noise pulsing between us.

This is the first time since the war ended that I really felt like all of this was over. I say to him, my Noise certain and sure and unwavering. Todd gives a small nod with his head still placed against mine.

I think that's the case for me, too. Todd says. I'm always gonna worry, a little. That just comes with it. But with yer with me, Viola…

I lift my head to look at him, to listen to what he's going to say, but I'm already reading it in his Noise, and seeing it in his eyes, and I don't need to hear in order to know the truth –

I almost say it to him, first, until we hear 1017 coming towards us –

From the direction of the Spackle community –

With something like sadness in his Noise –

Todd and I turn to him in unison.

There you are. 1017 says, stopping a few feet away from us. I thought I was going to have to go into the settlement to find you.

Wut's goin on? Todd asks him, and I wonder the same thing.

1017 looks to the ground, his Noise showing us what we wouldn't have expected –

The Elder Spackle –

Lying on a swath of stone –

Worried Spackle surrounding her –

As her breaths become shallower –

And slower –

She was dying.

"What?"I say out loud, just as Todd thinks it in his Noise. I'm stand up on the rock, nearly stumbling as I hop down in front of 1017. Todd follows. "How… what's going on? She was just with us, she was fine this morning, where did this come from – "

1017 holds up a hand in front of me, and I blink, waiting for him to respond.

I know, Viola, it was a shock to us, too. She didn't tell any of us that she was ailing, and did her best not to show the signs. But she wants to see the both of you, before it's too late. Follow me.

Todd is standing at my side, now, confusion in his Noise but also with a decision made. We gotta go, Viola. She's the oldest among the Spackle…

I'm shaking my head, not wanting to hear the rest, what it was going to mean for the Spackle, for our community, for our world as a whole. Instead, I take Todd's hand, and the two of us follow 1017 deeper into the forest, to where the rest of the Spackle wait.

…

The crowd of Spackle parts down the middle when me, Todd, and 1017 get there. Some are emotional, others only stand there, taking in the moment, and what it might mean. Todd greets as many of the Spackle that he can, giving them head nods or small smiles. But I keep my eyes trained to the ground, both because I feel out of place, approaching their leader's deathbed, but also because there are tears welling in my eyes. The emotion that fills the crowd pulses through the air, love and sadness and grief filling everyone's Noise. Todd and I had just arrived, and already, the atmosphere was thick and weighing on us. It was only made worse once we approached the stone slab, where two other Spackle sat, holding her hand. Mona was shrunk into a corner, and for once, wasn't writing in her notebook. 1017 stopped in front of us, offered for us to go up to the Elder Spackle –

Viola. Todd says to me, reading the hesitation in my Noise. I'm right here.

And well, that's all I needed, even with the weight of the moment pressing down on me, on my Noise, on my heart.

I squeezed Todd's hand, and we both stepped forward.

Viola. Todd. The Elder Spackle spoke, her Noise slower, but still clear. I know that the circumstances have changed, drastically…

What's happening? I ask her, reluctant to step any closer. You were just… everything was fine…

Nothing any of us could have prevented, Viola. The Elder Spackle says, her eye fluttering open to look at them, herself. It's nothing but time finally catching up to me, as it will for us all. I suppose that once I finally let go of my own personal transgressions against you two, it decided it was my time to go. But that is okay, Viola…

Instead of letting her finish, I quickly turned back to Todd, grabbing onto his shoulders, so desperate to start fixing this that I spoke in my normal voice, "You need to hurry back and get Mistress Lawson, Todd! They haven't even consulted a healer; for all we know, this could be curable!"

But Todd shakes his head no, taking my hands in his own, trying to get me to calm down. "Viola, I don't think that's going to work –"

"We don't know that!" I say, loudly, desperate.

"Viola, listen!" Todd says, louder, though also calmly. Patient. "We don't… I don' think we have much time."

He points behind me, where the Elder Spackle is taking deep, shallow breaths, the crowd of Spackle showing concern in their Noise, wondering if this was it. I start to realize that this isn't like fighting a war, or teaching women how to use their Noise; it isn't something that I can fix. But the warm, solemn look on Todd's face tells me that this is okay. That I don't have to be in control.

I take a deep breath. Turn back towards the Elder Spackle, and kneel at her side.

I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry that this is what it's come to. I tell her, my head bowed. After our meeting this morning… I just thought. I thought we'd have more time. More time to enjoy this world… together.

It is okay, Viola. The Elder Spackle says, slowly raising a hand to weakly place on top of mine. We couldn't have seen this coming. But now that it is, I have something important for you. For the both of you.

Mona steps up to us, then, holding the weathered notebook in her hands. She outstretches her hands and gives it to Todd, who takes it from her slowly.

It's documentation of everything pertaining to Spackle life, and New World, and what I've gone through, going back to as far as I can remember. I had Mona write it all up, in the hopes that she could organize it into a historical text, of some sort. But you might have to help her with it, seeing that her handwriting is not the most legible.

Mona and the Elder Spackle shared a laugh, and it wasn't until then that I realized how close they'd become to one another. It was probably nice for the Elder Spackle to have someone take interest in her, and her life, just before it came to an end – even if she hadn't known it. Todd thumbs through the journal's weathered pages, his Noise impressed with the drawings and journal entries that filled it. He looks up to the Elder Spackle, his eyes filled with tears and his Noise pulsing with emotion after reading a passage that pertained to him.

So yer really did kno my ma. Todd says, pointing to the page. And her Noise, the Noise she had with my pa… it really did kill em?

The Elder Spackle's Nosie shows nothing but truth at this revelation; she'd been there when it happened. She'd seen it happen. But her Noise is also soft, and re-assuring, and grateful; not only for Todd's mother, but for us, too.

I would not have lied to you about that. The Elder Spackle says. Their Noise was too powerful for them to control… but it was not right of me to use that against you. Because even though your mother struggled to use her Noise… the two of you… you and Viola…

I bit the inside of my lip, and involuntarily squeezed her hand, waiting for her to get the rest of her words out. It seemed that was all she needed in order to continue speaking to us; words I did not realize I needed to hear, until now.

You both have found a way to connect the humans, and the Spackle, and the Land, to one another. You've… you've used your Noise to earn one another's trust, and that is more than I could have ever done for my community. I can rest now, fully knowing that our community and our Land are in good hands. Which is why… why I want you to have the book. Use my knowledge of New World, in whatever way you need, to keep the peace going…

I could tell that her speech was coming to an end; the way her breathing slowed, the way her eyes fluttered shut. But in the midst of the grief and sadness and hurt that poured from the crowd of Spackle, and pressed right onto me, there was hope, too, hope and reassurance and gratitude, because the passing of one only meant the passing of more knowledge, more truth, more love. And with that, I knew she would not really be gone, would not miss out on the good things that our agreement will make, would not miss the years and years of peace that will grace over New World, even after me and Todd and our children and their children are long gone –

I whisper a promise to the Elder Spackle that this Land, our Land, would always be safe in our hands.

And then, her fingers loosen around mine.

Author's Note: I played around with this chapter A LOT and almost didn't write it this way… but in the end, this was the idea that worked the most for me. I hope you guys like it!

I finally watched the Chaos Walking movie on Saturday, and it took a lot of contemplation before I knew how I felt about it, lol! For the most part, the movie was really fun and watchable. The way they depicted Noise was SO GOOD and Todd had me laughing just like he did in the books! I wasn't expecting for it to be perfect, but there were still A LOT of problems I had with the film. Todd and Viola didn't really have the same chemistry as they did in the books. Viola was supposed to be a little more skeptical of him, and afraid of his Noise (remember how she wouldn't talk to him for like.. HALF the first book?). The movie still showed that… but not as much as I was hoping for. Aaron's motivations weren't as fleshed out as I'd hoped, Hildy's character was sort of dull to me (who I also LOVED in the books, for the short amount of time she was there) and Wilf not being in the movie was such a shock to me, seeing that he helped Todd and Viola a lot in the books. I might be a little harsh (not everything from the novel can make it to the film) but I still wanted MORE. But maybe this is my fault, seeing that Todd and Viola and everything involving New World has been stuck in my brain for the past two years

Hope you guys are doing well! School is almost over for me, so I'm hoping to be on here much much more. Talk to ya soon!