"Come back."
"I don't want to come back," she said. Reluctantly, she slowed, turning to look over her shoulder.
'There's so much you have left to do. So much life has to offer you."
"No," she said, frowning. "I've done terrible things. I don't want to hurt people anymore. It's best I don't go back. Leave me alone."
"You've never hurt anyone, Wythen. It was the old woman. You don't deserve to die for her crimes. Please, come back."
"But it was I who killed you, my hands, I saw them..."
My hands, but not my will within the hands.
"Thank you," she whispered, stepping forward, moving quickly again.
"Don't leave me!" Narvik begged. "You can't leave me like this."
Wythen stopped. He was right.
There seemed to be no space between decision and action here, no hesitation—as if to recognize the right was to do it. The light receded from her, growing smaller and smaller.
Darkness fell.
When she opened her eyes, Narvik was seated beside her, transparent as a reflection on still water. He smiled and took his hand from her brow; a touch so faint she was only conscious of it when it was removed, like a whisper of wind on a calm day.
Wythen licked dry lips and tried to rise. She came to one elbow with an effort that made her moan in pain. One look around and she let herself collapse again.
"The lines are ruined," she said in despair. Darkened, blurred.
Narvik laughed.
"Wythen," he said, leaning over her. "You couldn't feed a kitten milk now, much less raise the dead." He smiled with amusement and tenderness. "Go home. Sleep."
"Oh. But you'll have to wait for..."
"Next year?" He shrugged. "What's a year, to a ghost?"
"I'll take good care of Parney," she promised weakly. "And when the time comes I'll leave without a fuss."
"When the time comes," he said leaning over her, "I shall bind you to me with the strongest bonds I can weave." He kissed her on the lips.
I felt that! she thought. Then realized what he'd said, and stared.
He laughed.
"You shall have a place, and friends all around you, and a warm hearth in winter."
"And... you?" she asked.