She heard me coming. She always did.
She didn't turn around. But her shoulders changed slightly.... not tense, the opposite, the slight softening that meant she knew who it was and had decided not to maintain the full posture.
I stood beside her.
The light was warm here. Properly warm. The kind that didn't ask anything of you.
"You've been quiet since the coffee shop," I said.
"I'm often quiet."
"You're quiet in different ways. I've learned them."
She was silent for a moment. Looking at the far wall.
"The goddess chose you," she said.
"I gathered that."
"Not as a servant. Not as a champion. As a.... recipient. She gave you something." A pause. "The way you give something to a person you have already decided matters."
I said nothing.
