Page 322 of Every Almost

"It is very clear and evident, I'll put my medical license on it in fact, that Charlie Wickett makes you happy."

Reyna blew out a breath before walking to Kess and wrapping her arms around her, hugging her tightly. At first, Kess made no movement at all. But then she returned the embrace, hugging Reyna gently.

"Thank you," Reyna said softly.

Kess pulled back from her. "You're welcome."

Reyna let go, pulling back from someone she realized also meant more to her than she had ever allowed herself to acknowledge.

"But,” Kess started. “I think you already know that's not all I came to talk to you about."

Reyna blew out a breath. "Yeah, I had a feeling it wasn't."

Kess's eyes went to the rose. Reyna had noticed she'd been looking since she walked up.

"When did it happen?" Kess asked.

"Last night."

"All at once?"

"All at once."

Kess nodded slowly but didn't say anything for a moment. Reyna felt she understood the silence because she'd have needed one too. They had both grown up hearing about this. Every Kaelari did. It was one of those tales you were told about when you were small, as a fantastical story that happened to only certain people. And then, as you got older, you learned it was real and rare.

"I've seen it once, before this," Kess said finally. "On a patient, years before I came aboard. A young one, just starting her medical career. She just walked in one day and..." She looked at Reyna.

"I saw it once, too. On an older woman."

Kess nodded. "I never thought I'd see it again."

"Neither did I."

"No," Kess said quietly. "I know you didn't."

Reyna looked down at her own arm, at the color her markings had made hers now, and was most certainly not going anywhere. She still didn't have words for what it meant to be someone who had it. But, truthfully, she wasn't sure there was any. She felt that, maybe, it was something you just had to experience.

"Does it feel the way they say?" Kess asked.

Reyna realized it was a genuine question. Kess had spent her whole life around Kaelari and had never once been able to ask anyone this, because no one she'd known had ever been able to answer.

Reyna thought about what to say.

"They undersell it," she said.

Kess's eyes went wide as something crossed her face. It reminded Reyna of wonder, while under it there was something quieter, more private, a want that had nothing to do with Reyna.

Reyna watched it for a moment as Kess let it be there for a second. Then she gathered herself.

"Good," she said simply.

They stood there a moment longer in the quiet of the corridor.

"I knew you had it in you," Kess said.

Reyna looked at her oldest friend.

"Yeah," she said. "You did."