Allissa

“Please … I just need to talk to you.” I could see the reservation in her eyes and then finally she began to speak.

She had carried the fire since she was nine. Her father banked it in her the way his mother banked it in him. A temporary hearth inside of them that allowed them to walk around for a year before returning.

“You don’t want to misjudge the timing. I have seen late,” she said. “I have seen a man be late. Once. It was enough.”

“What happened to ...