She thinks about that, looking over at Athessa for a quiet stretch of time. Athessa, who smells comfortingly of plants and lingering sadness, who makes nicknames for people and owns an enormous bat, who isn't human and doesn't need a human name. "They were wrong."
Something about that strikes a chord within her, the reverberations of that note shaking loose a fresh stream of tears. But she smiles, too. Laura has stumbled onto what Athessa needed to hear, what Athessa herself never knew she needed to hear. The name her parents gave her is good enough. She is good enough. She sniffs, wiping at her face with her sleeve.
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"Thanks."