“I know. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“If it weren’t for them, I…” I’d what? she thought.

She didn’t know the answer.

“The little faerie who gave you her ring, I don’t remember her, Tam. I don’t remember you. But something…some part of me does. Something inside me cares about you from back then.” She lowered her head. “And I care about you now.”

Tamani smiled a strange, melancholy smile. “Thank you for that glimmer of hope, however fleeting.”

“There’s always hope, Tamani.”

“There is now.”

She nodded, forced her fingers to release Tamani’s shirt, and turned back the way she had come.