You take her hand off the clipboard and you take her to the dock and you do not explain, and she comes, because she has been waiting for someone to make it that simple.
The village burns behind you on the seventh night. It always burns. You have simply not been there for it this time.
AoiMy brother's still on that list.
You know. She knows. She holds your hand anyway, and the boat goes out into water that is flat like something laid down on purpose.
Somewhere behind you a woman in a dark house deals the week again to a village with one fewer person in it.