[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.]
“Ten thousand miles.”
Hecate blinked, shaking herself. She stared at Carolyn, who grinned at her from the other side of the flower bed. “Huh?”
“You were ten thousand miles away just now,” Carolyn said. “Or maybe further—and longer ago.”
Hecate choked on a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”
“Are you all right?”
After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded slightly. “Yeah, I think so. There’s a lot of shit going on, that’s all.”
“There always is.” Carolyn stood, cleaning her hands on the seat of her jeans. “You were going down to the barrow, not staying up here.”
“Up here is fine,” Hecate said, perhaps a little too quickly. She took a quick breath, then laughed weakly. “Near and far enough for me to think, anyway.”
Carolyn offered her hand. “Come on. Let’s go take a walk.”
“You—you don’t have to, Carolyn.”
She smiled crookedly. “I know. But I can tell you felt like you needed to come out here and the least I can do is go down there with you.”
Hecate swallowed hard, then smiled, taking her hand and pulling herself to her feet. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Carolyn grinned again, though the smile faded a few seconds later. “You know, I don’t think any of us have thanked you enough for what you did on the wall during the last attack.”
“I barely did anything,” Hecate said, dusting her hands off on her thighs. “Hell, I’m still more than half convinced it was some kind of trap that I sprung on myself. Matt had to dive in after me.”
“But we won,” Carolyn said softly. “That’s the important part.”
“Yeah,” Hecate said softly. “Yeah, we did, and you’re right—it is. We just have to keep winning until there’s no one left for us to fight.”
“It’ll happen someday,” Carolyn said. “Right?”
“Right,” Hecate said, mustering up a smile. “Someday.”
