The forest was quiet in the way it was only quiet in winter — the specific, clean silence of bare trees and cold air and the particular quality of morning light that had not yet committed to warmth. Shae walked the path to school with her hands in her coat pockets and her breath coming in small, visible clouds and the sensation of being, for once and without complication, simply content.
This was notable. She was aware of its notability.
She was not a person for whom contentment arrived without effort or left without being interrogated. She had spent the better part of her life in the specific, vigilant relationship with her own wellbeing that came from learning early that good things ended and it was better to know the shape of them clearly so you could account for the ending when it ca
