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And I barely realize I'm interpreting her signs instead until my brain fully catches up with what my eyes are seeing.

I feel V glancing at me, but I don't look back right away. I can't. Because—

Lenny is signing.

Not one word.

Not something she learned in passing or from a friend or through watching some YouTube video.

Fluently.

And she understood everything Vienna said.

When I finally peel my gaze off of her, I look to V, and her eyes fill with hope.

My sister nods slowly at Lenny who's gaze never left her.

"That's you right now," Lenny says, still signing. "You're Elsa."

She pauses as Vienna takes it in, leaning forward slightly.

"And being you, Vienna, is your superpower—not being deaf or hearing."

Lenny gestures to V's ear.

"Turning that on or leaving it off won't change that. Just like Elsa's gloves. Wearing them did one thing. Taking them off did another. But the gloves weren't the part that mattered."

Vienna carefully lifts her hands. "They weren't?"

Lenny shakes her head, then taps my sister gently over her heart.

"Her power was who she was inside," she says. "Who she was always meant to be."

The corners of V's mouth lift. They don't fully reach her cheeks, but… she's smiling.

And my whole body relaxes.

Lenny grins back and lifts her brows, waiting for whatever my sister might say next.

Vienna's eyes drop to the floor before she answers. Lenny's smile falters with her.

"You'll still understand me?" she asks.

Lenny hesitates—just for a second—then slowly rises. And only then does she look at me for the first time since she started signing. Not for reassurance. Not for recognition.

For a response.

And it hits me all at once.

She can't answer that.

Because Vienna isn't asking about understanding her words. And she's not really talking to Lenny at all.

She's asking me—asking if her people will still know who she is.

"Always," I say, stepping right beside Lenny. "And you're right, V, a lot will change. But one thing never will—me and you. I'm not going anywhere. I promise. I'll be right beside you the whole time. Today and every other day."

As I finish my sentence, Lenny brushes her pinky past mine—a fluke maybe. But my eyes dart to the space between us anyway. And when they trail back up to hers, she's looking at me.