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“You think Marlene would like it here?” Barret asks it out of nowhere, thoughtfully eating an orange and tossing the peels into the lazy river that glides through the middle of the Gongaga village. Occasionally a peel would disappear with a series of ripples, fish from deeper in the water grabbing a snack.
Tifa picks back up the conversation topic without batting an eye. This has become a norm of their group - pinning topics and conversations at a moment's notice and taking them back down when the moment is right. Better. Usually because when you’re hoofing it across continents you had to be ready to stop chatting and fight at a moment's notice. And also, to a lesser extent, because sometimes it wasn’t the right time for a topic. Or Something needed to be readdressed later.
This was the most innocuous of any of those though. Simply a train of thought that Barret had mentioned earlier - living here, in this village - that had never fully left his mind.
Tifa takes a bite of her own orange slice and tosses a piece of the peel to follow Barrets’. Her gaze lingers on the river for a moment before lifting to the other bank. Cloud and Red are over there, inching their way along a path, pulling some kind of noisy contraption along the worn stone pathway in what appears to be an attempt to cajole a chicken into following them. Tifa squints and can almost see Marlene standing there with them, chasing the chicken away in her childish excitement.
“She’d like it.” Tifa says with certainty. Now that… now Tifa is the only person who knows Marlene anywhere close to Barret. He nods along to her words, following her sight line to the boys across the river. The chicken stops for a moment and then charges them - Cloud frantically pulls the contraption backward, but not fast enough before the chicken bounces off of it and loses interest, beginning to plod back the way it had come. Panicked Red goes to try and block its’ path as Cloud gathers back up the contraption for another attempt. Barret snorts at their antics.
“So you’re serious about it then. Living here, I mean.” Barret shrugs in response.
“Maybe - got a long road ahead of us before then.” He continues to look, but Tifa has a feeling he isn’t watching Cloud and Red anymore. Instead imagining a little pink dress dancing among mushrooms bigger than her. “I think she’d like the plants especially. Maybe I can get that vegetable vendor to teach me how to do what he does.”
“I never took you for a gardener,” Tifa remarks with a smile. Aerith would probably help him too, if he asked. Not that she usually grew crops, but the principles couldn’t be too different. “...are you going to get Izo to make you a shovel attachment then?” She recalled the man’s enthusiasm at the idea of what Barrets’ arm could become if he ever put down his gun. She had never given it much thought, what Barret would do with the appendage if he wasn’t fighting, but kind of assumed he’d just get a hand attachment of some kind. The idea that it could, in reality, become anything was different, and at least to Tifa, kind of exciting. “Maybe a rake.” She didn’t know many kinda of gardening equipment.
“You know what, I just might.” Barret looked down at his appendage thoughtfully. Tifa had initially said it as a joke, but the idea held some actual weight. His face became contemplative. “I spent most of my life tearing things out of the earth, you know. And then the rest of it fighting against that. Think it would be nice to work with the Earth for a bit instead. Nurture something good from it.” Tifa nodded at his words, humming thoughtfully. The conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence, as they watched the boys on the other side dive once more after the chicken.
oOo
The idea - of settling down somewhere - lingers in Tifa’s mind after that. They continue to trace their way across Gongaga. It’s a distraction from their main goal of following the black robes and catching up with Sephiroth, but fixing the remnawave towers is important for the future. Getting a network working that isn’t Shirna-owned will only become more important if they want to build a future without the company. And while they’re at it might as well dot their i’s, cross their t’s. Tifa sits atop one of the towers, letting her legs dangle off the side. Down below she can make out the fighting figures of Cloud, Cait, and Yuffie. Fulfilling one of the monster research requests for Chadley and Mai - they did need the materia, and Chadley had grown on several of them. It was hard to tell him no. Not like it needed all of them though.
Boots thudded against the metal structure behind Tifa. She knew who it was before Aerith sat down next to her, similarly letting her feet dangle.
“Cait’s been getting good.” Aerith appraised. When the robotic cat had first joined their team he had been uncoordinated - both in fighting and in working with others. The adjustment period had been rough, but seeing the improvement was rewarding. His materia casting times had improved, and he had come up with several really clever ways to integrate his Mog into battles. More similar to magic users like Aerith, casting through his megaphone, but not above using it instead as an instrument of blunt force trauma.
“He’s receptive to critique,” Tifa said, watching with a critical eye. “...and good at mimicry.” She added as she caught on a move that was definitely taken straight from Barrets’ move set. He followed it up with a very Yuffie move. Those two could be trouble if they didn’t keep an eye on them - both had this mischievous air about them.
Propped her hands on one of the little fence beams, placing her head down on them like a little cushion, and watched the fight with what could only be described as open fondness.
“Would you ever live here?” The word spilled from her mouth before Tifa’s brain could catch up with it. She had been thinking, for a while, what if they all came back here. What if they all returned and started a farm. Aerith loved growing things, and she had seemed to feel easier here, where the tree tops distorted the view of the sky, made it smaller. Like how it was under the plates.
“I don’t know.” Aerith pulled her legs back up and tucked them under her chin. The corner of her mouth pinched inwards, chewing on it like she did whenever she was nervous. “I like it here but…” Her hands clenched briefly and knotted themselves up in her dress skirt. Tifa let her take her time. Aerith was quick to talk most of the time, but Tifa knew Aerith, better than most. Camping out they usually shared a tent, and at an inn a room. Tifa had been privy to more of this quiet, uncertain side of Aerith. In front of the others, Aerith usually seemed certain, confident in a gentle way. But one on one, Aerith showed this other self.
“I don’t think,” Aerith finally found her voice again, thoughts collected. Tifa pulled herself from her own internal musings. “...I don’t think I could live in the same village as, as his parents.” There was no need to say whose parents. Tifa kicked herself internally for forgetting.
“Right.” Tifa said, and scooted closer to Aerith. Their sides pressed against one another. Aerith let her head loll to the side, resting on Tifa. “Somewhere else then, maybe.” Tifa muttered, running her hands through Aerith’s bangs.
oOo
Something in Tifa gives, breaks, or maybe is finally put to rest at Nibelheim. Something deep in her chest changes, there. It’s like a movie set - the building facades and blueprints are right, but the details are off. Walking up the stairs of her old house is eerie - the stairs don’t creak in the right places anymore. The rug is wrong, and when she enters her childhood bedroom the bedframe is on the wrong wall, and the piano is there but it’s the wrong make.
Shinra really took everything from her home, even the ashes.
All at once, with a force that could bowl her over, Tifa realizes that she is homeless. The bar is gone, her hometown is gone, there is nowhere for her to return to anymore. She sits next to Cloud on the piano bench that is the wrong shape and half clumsily plunks out the song she made up when she was a child. He’s going from his memory of what it sounded like, what he could hear from the water tower. Cloud is better at stuff like this - actions instead of words.
This is her home now. Not a location on a map. The only thing she has to return to are these people. They’re all she has left.
oOo
“Are you doing okay?” Tifa asks. Nanaki can’t take five steps without another resident of Cosmo Canyon calling out to him. He was pleased by it, until suddenly he wasn’t. Tifa found him in Bugenhagens’ safe, crouched among the valuable but useless detritus.
One of Nanaki’s ears flicked, showing that he heard her, but he doesn’t respond. Let’s out a small huff instead. Tifa peaks around the room instead, giving Red - Nananki - his space. It’ll take some while to adjust to the different name. She had never felt good about calling him the same thing Hojo had called him, but after a while, she had kind of forgotten it wasn’t his real name. The old habit would be hard to break.
Her eyes caught on a painting. Two little cubs - hair spiky and unruly - standing side by side. One a bright red, the others’ fur sandy. She stood there for a moment observed it, trying to match the round shape of the cub to the lithe form a ways away from her.
“My parents.” Nananki said. Tifa couldn’t stop herself from jumping slightly - she hadn’t been expecting him to speak up so soon. His voice was deep and husky, the way it had been since she had met him.
“Oh, I thought this one was you.” She gestured to the red cub. Nananki shook his head.
“My… My dad.” The word dad was said with derision, embarrassment. A barbed retort. Tifa didn’t rise to the bait. That wasn’t what this was about. He said those words in his new voice - the soft and childish one. Hearing him go between the two voices so close together was more than a little jarring.
Tifa took his talking as a sign though, and crossed the room back to where Nanaki had perched himself on an ancient rug, with intricate embroidery and weaving. She kept a decent enough distance between them and sat herself down on the floor. Unlike Nanaki who casually sat on the relics, Tifa was afraid to touch anything in the room. The middle of the floor seemed the safest place.
“It’s too much.” Nananki broached the subject on his own, without Tifa needing to ask. “I - it’s great that everyone here is excited to see me. It’s just - there’s too many of them.” The young voice again, raw and vulnerable. Tifa nodded sympathetically. She had seen first hand how little Nanaki liked to be surrounded by people, and also how easily he attracted a crowd. She flashed back to the streets of upper Junon, where he had been surrounded by children to the point where he could barely walk. As long as Tifa had known him - the past few months - this had been a part of Nanaki.
She expected to need to gently pry more out of him, but this new Nanaki continued talking without any prodding.
“I didn’t used to be like this.” He bristled, seemingly at himself, “I grew up here, but now I’m-” A frustrated growl escaped his muzzle, and when he spoke again his voice was gruff and deep. “I can’t be who they remember. And I can’t be the man who was with you the past few months. I feel caught - trapped all over again. Except this time it’s between the different me’s I created.”
It’s the most that Tifa has ever heard Nanaki say all at once. She wonders which part of him is saying it.
“There’s no rush - we all I think struggle with that kind of thing.” Tifa drummed her fingers on the floorboards, thoughtful. “Sometimes I’m not sure who I am anymore either.” She admitted. “I’ve been so many things in the last year alone - A bartender, a babysitter, a terrorist, a fighter - and none of them are what I thought I would be when I was your age.” Nanaki is watching her carefully. Now that she knows he’s 15, she can’t stop seeing him as 15. He isn’t naive and wide-eyed, not after the shit they’ve been through, but the similarities between him and Yuffie were obvious now. Trying to act older than their age, be taken seriously, but also secretly wanting to indulge in fun.
“The idea that we have to be ‘one person’,” She framed the words with finger quotations. “...is false. Everyone is many people at once. And if you’re still figuring out the people you are, that’s okay. You can figure it out with us.” Tifa rose to her feet and approached Nanaki, ruffling his hair. He let his head go slack, rocking side to side with her shakes.
“Take your time, Nanaki.”
She left to give him some room. From behind her, a young voice quietly said - just loud enough to reach her ears.
“Thank you, Tifa.”
oOo
“I like it here.” The words seem blasphemous to Tifa, and she can’t stop herself from turning around so her hair smacks her a little in the face, giving Yuffie in incredulous look. From the moment that they touched down on the Nibelheim landing all Tifa has really wanted to do as runaway. Yuffie’s comment seems tabboo and out of left field.
The teams’ split up right now - Cloud doesn’t want to be here any more than Tifa does - so they’re trying to set a new record to taking care of Chaldey’s requests. Ideally, once they leave Tifa will never have to come back here again.
“I mean did you see the size of that materia! If only I could use it!” Yuffie whined, hands behind her head. Only sphere shaped natural materia was actually usable. In the back of her mind Tifa wondered if Bugenhagen could tell her why that is, or why it happens.
“You don’t think it’s a little sad here?” Tifa shivers against an invisible wind. Everything from the pointed and hostile looking mountains to the rolling restless sea unnerved her now. The sound of it reminded her of a monster crying. Not even a proper beach - just washes mercilessly crashing on rocks.
“Nope!” Yuffie replied cheerily, either not noticing Tifa’s mood or not caring. It was hard to tell. “Reminds me of home!”
“Nibelheim reminds you of Wutai?” Tifa asked as they picked their way up the island. There was supposed to be a Summon shrine around here somewhere.
“Oh yeah! Totally! A lot of people in Wutai are like, super cagey too. The terrain is similar too - foresty but also mountainy. Lots of bird monsters hanging around.” Yuffie chirped. To make her point she flung her shuriken and hit a Zu that had been circling them for a bit. It quickly darted away, seeing that they weren’t the easy bite it had been hoping. Yuffie pouted - no doubt had been hoping for some actual action.
“Do you miss home?” Tifa asked as Yuffie compromised her lack of a battle by twirling her shuriken around, tossing it into the air occasionally. That always made Tifa a little nervous, seeing her play with her weapon like that, but after a month or so she had started to realize that if there was one thing Yuffie had under control it was her shuriken. Clutzy occasionally in other avenues, but her handling of her weapon was as easy and natural to her as the way one didn’t have to think about walking.
“Not really.” Yuffie replied, tossing the giant shuriken and letting it lodge into the rock wall a little ways up the island mountain from them. She skipped after it, leaving Tifa slightly behind. “It’s boring in Wutai.” She called back after her. “My dad thinks I’m a baby, basically, doesn’t let me do anything. ” With a quick grab she jerked her shuriken out of the rock and studied it, looking for any damage done to the blade. Satisfied, Yuffie started to spin it around again, waiting for a bit for Tifa to catch up.
They walked a little farther up the island. They were getting closer - had come across one of those strange summon crystals and geometric strone cubes that were around the shrines.
“Besides,” Yuffie said, putting her shuriken away. “...I can’t go back. Not until I’ve proven myself.”
oOo
The Corel region, by and far, was a wash. At least when it came to places where Tifa would ever want to stay. Costa Del Sol was fine as a vacation place, and the first time they had arrived there Tifa had been excited by the idea of a getting down time to relax by the beach, but after Nibelheim glossy veneer of the place had worn off. It reminded her too much of her old hometown now, it similarly carried with it a manufactured quality. Fake.
The only place in all of Costa Del Sol that didn’t feel that way was Jonny’s place. Probably because they had watched it be built. It was the only place she was comfortable staying when they were in the town. Couldn’t even enjoy the worlds most famous vacation spot anymore - just another Shinra had ruined for her.
Corel itself was a desolate place. It wasn’t like Cosmo Canyon. Cosmo Canyon was meant to be a desert biome, and was a thriving land despite the way people might first look at it. Things didn’t need to be lush with vegetation to mean that they were a living ecosystem. By Corel wasn’r right - the reactors had clearly drained the land causing the scale of desertfication that it boasted. The people in the dust bowl were abrasive. The town of Corel hostile. The land itself set Barret on edge, and if Barret was on edge then everyone was on edge.
And then there was the Gold Saucer.
“You mind if I pop by as long and we’re in this neck of the woods?” Cait had requested, and so they had gone.
Out of everything in the region, the Gold Saucer was one of the parts of it that Tifa liked more but that didn’t mean that it was one of her favorite places on the entire planet. It was a place meant to harness fun, and while Tifa could enjoy the attractions and the games, she couldn’t shake the feeling that while she was there she as ignoring bigger responsibilities. It made her anxious.
But Cait didn’t ask for much, in fact he asked for things rarely. Didn’t need food, didn’t need to tbe first one to take breaks, and usually just accepted whatever materia was left over. ‘An expert knows how to make do with whatever they’re given’ he would resourcefully say.
Cloud and Yuffie are off doing the boxing game, Nanaki is on the motor bike, and Barret and Aerith decided to go watch the Chocobo races. It left Tifa as an odd man out. She ended up staying in the hub area on one of the benches, people watching.
She wished Jessie was with her. They used to do this kind of thing all the time - look at the crowds and comment on the fashion, or make up backstories for the people passing by. Trade gossip they had heard at the bar, or that Jessie had picked up from her roommates.
“Gil for your thoughts, lassie?” Tifa hadn’t noticed Cait approach, but wasn’t necessarily surprised by it. He was small enough he frequently seemed to just ‘appear’ because people forgot to look down. She watched as Cait sized up the bench, crouched down on all fours, and made a grand leap in order to get onto the seat.
“I thought you were busy.” Tifa turned her attention back to the crowds.
“Just checking in on things. Was worried this place might fall to ruin without its’ main attraction and mascot.” He puffed out his chest a little.
“I think the main mascot is Mog.” Tifa replied, looking at the decor. “Maybe Dio.” Cait clutched his chest as if struck and keeled over onto the bench.
“You wound me!” Tifa rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She liked Cait. She knew that some of the others had their reservations, and she wasn’t without her own, but Cait was friendly and easy to get along with. She liked it.
“Took care of your business then?” Tifa asked. Cait sat himself back up, positioning himself near the edge of the bench so he could swing his feet.
“Didn’t take long. Just wanted to touch base with some of the folks here. Just like everyone else, I start to miss home when I’m away for too long.” The reply surprised Tifa, and she found herself turning her attention fully towards the cat.
“This is your home?” She spared a glance back to the hub - the escalators and the balloons and the mascots. Nothing about this place seemed like a home to her.
“I’ve only got the two. Spent many months here, hard not see it as a home after all that time.” Cait said the reply breezily, like it was obvious. Tifa wondered if it was like that for some of the other people that worked here - for Dio it probably was too.
“What’s the other one?” She knew Cait expected her to ask - wouldn’t had dropped the hint if he didn’t want her to.
“Midgar.” He said, nodding his head. “It’s where I was born, ye know.” Not for the first time Tifa wondered about Cait. He was a robot, she knew that much, but he also seemed a little more than that. There was definitely someone behind Cait, controlling him and giving him information, but no one could control a machine to that extent for that long. “Lived there most my life.” He continued on. “Up in a tower. Lonely place, that.” The accent softened into something that was caught between Highland and Midgar.
“Have you ever thought about leaving? Living somewhere else?” It felt a little silly, saying that to the fake cat. But at that moment Tifa had a feeling she was talking both to Cait and to the mysterious Ventriloquist - the man behind Caits curtain. Cait let out a sigh.
“I have nowhere to go. No one to go to either, really.” Cait frowned to himself, as if worried by his own choice of words. “Made myself something that leave instead.”
“I’m looking for a new home, you know. Whenever we visit somewhere new, I try to imagine myself living there.”
“Any success?” The highland accent was more prominent again. Tifa tilted her head to one side and then the other.
“Hit or miss. But maybe I’ll keep an eye out for a place for you, too.”
oOo
“Shit, I lost track of him again.” Barret cursed. Tifa lifted a hand to her forehead, shielding her eyes from the worst ofthe sun, and scanned the area. It was no wonder that Cosmo Canyon was Nanaki’s home - his bright red coat, which stood out anywhere else, made him seamlessly blend into the red rock of the canyon. They had stopped for lunch under an outcropping of rock, but Nanaki apparently wasn’t in the mood to sit still. Luckily, neither was Yuffie or Aerith, and they had started some kind of game that Tifa couldn’t quite tell the rules of. They were having fun, at least.
How they were having fun in this heat, she had no idea. While the village of Cosmo Canyon was nice - plenty of shade and lots of fans and designed to enhance the flow of air - the canyon itself was miserable during the day. The hot sun bore down on them more threateningly than the plates od Midgar had. And Tifa already ran warm as it was. Her body had adapted to the Nibel mountains - even temperatures as low as 40’s didn’t require her to get out a jacket. The heat on the other hand was a different beast. Her body was good for insulation, not for cooling. Barret apparently felt the same way, which she didn’t find too surprising - his bulk was probably the reason why.
She tolerated is best as she could, but the idea of running out and playing in heat just for the fun of it was insane to her. Cloud was uninterested in the play, but didn’t mind the heat. She would chalk that one up to his enhancements. Cait struggled in it too - said it made his processors heat up too fast, and if he did too much fighting in direct sunlight in this heat he’d start to pant with his mouth open like a dog, except you could hear the whirr of internal fans attempting to cool him down.
Mentally this was strike three to Cosmo Canyon. The first had been when the planetologists had written her off so easily. As if her experiences meant nothing just because she didn’t know the theory behind it. Just thinking about it made her scoff and shake of the feeling that she was small and insignificant. The second had been when Aerith gave her speech. She didn’t know if it had been Aeriths’ idea to give it, or if the people of Cosmo Canyon had forced the idea on her, but regardless she was angry to see Aerith othered like that. If she ever wanted to find a place to settle down, it would have to be somewhere that Aerith could be herself, without the weight of her lineage following her like that.
Maybe, if they found a smaller town in the canyon, they could make do. But Tifa wasn’t sure she could ever live with this heat.
As boring as it was, the best place so far was the farmland east of Kalm.
Junon had its’ appeal, sure, but the ever present canon set them all a little too much on edge, and the way it loomed large on the horizon gave the impression of Shinra’s watchful eye on their backs. It was colder, too. A mix of the moody weather of the location and the breeze taht came off of the ocean. Tifa liked it, had always liked just a bit of a chill on her bare arms. Aerith however wasn’t quite made for it. She shivered in the cold like a leaf caught in the breeze. IT was never too big of a deal - she’d usually hang closer to Nanaki to absorb his heat, curled together and looking like siblings. Or Aerith would use Barret’s board body as a human shield against the elements. Tifa secretly like it a bit, when Aerith would huddle nearby or wrap her arms around Tifa’s frame. But if Tifa marked Cosmo Canyon off for the heat, it made sense to mark Junon off for the chill and for the Shinra.
Kalm had a bit of that, the Shinra at least, with the tops of Midgar’s towers just barely visible on the horizon. But the distance was just enough that you could almost forget. Mentally Tifa went through her checklist. It had farmland for Barret and Marlene. It was far enough from reminders of Shinra for Cloud. The temperature was good, and there Aerith didn’t have the weight of the past (whether it was the Fairs or people who knew she was a Cetra). Mentally, Maybe somewhere that Nanaki would be willing to visit - Tifa still remembered the rumble of approval he had made when he had touched the grass for the first time in who knows how long. Yuffie had liked the city of Kalm, too, when they visited with her in tow - a combination of the materia stores and the magnata books… and finding a way to climb up into the clock towers mechanisms.
For now, Tifa marked Kalm a location worth considering.
oOo
Aerith visited Tifa in her dream. Before she left, that is. It was a lot like back in Midgar, when Aerith had a dream chat with everyone individually, asking them not to worry about her in the Shinra building, that she would be okay. Similarly to that time, Tifa shrugged off the bid not to worry, and chased after Aerith all the same.
When she awoke, the decision was unanimous.
With no one trustworthy enough to leave Cloud in the care of (especially when they didn’t know the kind of state Cloud would be in when he woke up - how violent he might be) they seatbelted his comatose body into the Tiny Bronco and took him along as they headed North.
The Tiny Bronco, in the past few months, had become a bit of a home too. It certainly seemed to be one for Cid. As far as Tifa was aware, he had no other home. Most of the times when they made port he didn’t even sleep at the inns with them, opting instead to rest inside of the Tiny Bronco.
Where Vincent stayed, or where he could call home, Tifa didn’t know. He appeared when he deigned to. Never stayed at the inns, as far as she knew, and didn’t sleep in the Bronco either.
The Bronco lurched under them as it rode the waves, heading North. As fast as Cid could do without capsizing on them. Too long, Tifa thought, hands curling on themselves until her nails bit into the flesh of her palms.
“Where should we go?” Cait cuddled up next to her.
“Huh?” Tifa didn’t follow the question.
“After we get Aerith, I think we’ll all need a break.” Cait clarified. “And celebrate! Where would you like to go?” Trying to take her mind off of things, Tifa realized. Or maybe take his own mind off of things. It was worth answering. She cast her mind back, and remembered the way that Aerith’s face had glowed when she sang, wreathed in white and gold.
“The Saucer.” She chose. “You can give us a little tour.”
“A tour? Of the Golden Saucer?” Cait tilted his head to the side, not seeming to understand.
“Since you lived there, I assume you know all the best secrets.”
“Ach nae, Lassie. Ne’er been to the Saucer meself!” He tilted his head to the side, in thought for a moment. “The previous Cait, he did live there for quite a bit. I think I had enough of his memories to give you a good time, though!”
Tifa’s eyebrows knit together.
“I’m not completely different than the Cait ye knew, but not entirely the same either.”
Tifa felt, in her heart, an echo of a loss she had thought they had recovered.
oOo
Cloud was comatose.
Aerith had run away.
Jessie, Biggs, Wedge…
Tifa wasn’t sure how much more of this her heart could take. She threaded her hands though Nanaki’s fur.
If she lost one more person, Tifa thought she may just walk blindly into this sleeping forest, and rest forever.
oOo
“Where will we live?”
Tifa heard the words dimly, through a haze. The majority of the others were working on getting the Tiny Bronco flight worthy again. She was instead laying on the grass in the vicinity, absorbing the warm of the sun and letting herself drift into a place between awake and asleep. She was too tired for anything else. Exhausted from her fight, from her sorrow, a headache blooming in her head from all her crying.
It must have been her imagination, the feeling of hands running through her hair. The voice hummed to itself.
“Where will we live?” It repeated, threading flowers into her hair. “Anywhere you pick will be perfect, Tifa.”
Fresh tears sprung from Tifa’s closed eyes. She didn’t want to open them, didn’t want to wake up.
“I know where I will live Tifa. Where my home has been, for the past few months. With you.” Another light humming. “Even when you can’t see me anymore, I will be here, with you.”