Page 209 of The Quiet Light

The sun is shining, and my eyes are used to its radiance.

People surround us, but the sound doesn’t overwhelm me; it welcomes me; bolsters me.

And I know the names of the trees.

Zan and I—by ourselves, this time—finish erecting our ice cream stall.

Nomi built it for us. Teren made our tablecloth. Sunani painted the shop sign.

But Zan chose our colors: how we will present ourselves to the world.

Not the purple of blackberry ice cream, as I expected.

But pink and blue together.

The colors of us, entwined.

A statement, out in the open, of who we are, and what we will be:

Reveling in a life absolutelyfullof color, unabashedly as ourselves, together.

When he suggested that with vulnerability in his eyes, I pounced on him until his doubts burned away in our fire.

Now, I lift the enormous container of ice cream and set it on the table with a thump of finality.

Crystal Hollow—our world—seems to hold its breath, waiting.

Zan takes my hand.

“Are you ready?” my dragon asks me.

So very much.

My smile blazes. I kiss him fiercely, in full view of everyone.

Then hand in hand, our eyes glowing brightly, Zan and I turn to face our future together.

Knowing what we’re here for.

Ready, at last, to live.

“Ice cream for everyone,” I answer him and the world, as the market whoops. "Come and get it.”

I—we—are ready to get everything.