I stepped off the hovercraft and instantly I felt the sun pounding down on me. It was stronger than I was used to. 

I brought my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. 

"Good luck finding her," the man who called himself Apple, said. 

I smiled at him then looked at the sign that said 'Solano'. It was a long shot, but I had to at least try. Eydis was the person I felt home with. If she still couldn't remember me, I could at least start again. It was better than nothing. She was the keeper of my heart. She always had been. 

"Do you know what way the center of town is?" I asked Apple.

He pointed ahead. "I should be about a mile up the road." He tossed me a bottle of water which I caught. "Take this. It's going to be a hot one today." 

"Thank you," I said before walking down the dirt road. 

I wasn't sure how I would find her but I knew she was here. I just had to ask the right people if they had seen her. 

With the sun beating down on me, I wondered into the center of town. I tried to find common ground in this new city, but everything was so different then Hell. The houses were made of paster instead of the wooden structures of my city. The roads were smooth here, but instead of pavement, it was packed gravel and dirt.

The people I passed seem to pay little attention to me. They were taller here, and tanner. Their skin had varying shades of chocolate. With the warmer weather, they wore brighter clothes and less of them then in Hell. They showed skin like it wasn't an issue but in Hell, people would complain of your outfit.

A few smiled as I passed, but most were too busy tending to their own needs. They all wore the same tired faces the people in Hell wore. At least that was one similarity. 

A frown appeared on my lips as I looked around at the town square I stood in. There were people selling things, talking to one another, but I was unsure if I could walk up to one and ask about Eydis. I wasn't sure who knew her anyhow. If this town was big then maybe not many.

I sighed as I glared at the town hall. It stood out starkly against the run-down looking buildings around it. Just like in Hell, the town hall stood tall with it's perfect white walls.

"You look lost, lovely," an older woman said to me as I looked around the town square. She over pronounced her vowels the same way Eydis did.

"I'm looking for someone," I stated carefully. I wasn't sure if it was safe to ask around for someone, to look as if I didn't belong. In Hell, people would report me, I figured it was the same here.

"Who is it then?" 

"Eydis..."

Before I could say more, her face lit up with a smile. "I know Eydis. Sweet girl, often sells peaches in that stall," she said as she pointed to an empty stall across the square. "Looks like she isn't in today." 

I frowned, letting disappointment sink in. Of course it couldn't be that easy. "Do you know when she normally comes in?"

She scratched her head in thought. "No, not really. I don't pay much attention to people's coming and goings in the market. Just look out for myself."

"Orla, how much for this shawl?" A lady said as she walked up to the older woman I had been talking to. She draped the shawl around her neck and smiled. 

"Should be on the tag," she replied.

"It's not. Must have fallen off." 

"Oh dear. Let me take a look then..." Orla said and took the shawl from the lady and gave it closer inspection. 

The last thing I wanted to do was to get in her way. But deep down, I wanted to stay and ask more. There was something about her that made me feel welcomed, in a way I hadn't felt in a long time. "Thank you for all the information," I said kindly. 

She didn't bother to look at me before I walked away. Too busy with the sale of her shawl, she started negotiation for the selling point.

Under the hot sun, I walked aimlessly around the square, hoping Eydis would come. Minutes passed into hours and soon the last of my water was gone. Taken by me to fill my never-ending thirst. 

I looked up at the sun, wondering when it would ever go down and provide some kind of reprieve. It beat down on me, laughing for thinking it would lower any time soon. 

Hell was never this hot even on the longest of days. Here, I felt like I was melting, just like the ice did in the spring. I shook my head, no, I couldn't think of ice. I shouldn't. It was not my talent to use.

My eyes welled with tears as I thought about all those years practicing on the pond with my mother. It was all a lie. Nothing was actually mine. Nothing was actually hers. 

"Telvi, what are you doing here?" Eydis' voice rang out. 

My breath hitched, and I froze, my heart pounding in my ears. It couldn't be. I knew this was a long shot and deep down I didn't expect to see her, let alone have her remember me, but as I turned to face her as my heart soared. There across the square was her, the one I was longing to find.

Her dark curly hair was now shaved close to her scalp. It is striking against her cheek bones. She wore a bright yellow dress, nearly as bright as the sun beating on us. She smiled and something ignited within me.

The way she said my name was like wind chimes. She remembered me. But there, in the height of the sun light, stood a figure that was achingly familiar.

"Eydis?" My voice was barely a whisper, carried away by the gentle breeze. Tears blurred my vision as I stumbled forward, my legs weak with disbelief. "Eydis!" I cried out, louder this time, my voice breaking with emotion. 

Without wasting another second, she ran towards me, her own tears glistening.

We collided in a desperate embrace, holding each other as if we could never let go. Her warmth, her scent, everything about her was real. She was here, in my arms, and I never wanted to let her go.

Her embrace was a confirmation that she did remember me. She longed for me just like I longed for her. My one and only love.

"I thought I lost you," I choked out.

She pulled back just enough to look into my eyes, her own filled with a mixture of sorrow and relief. "I thought I was too," she whispered, her voice trembling. 

We stood there, wrapped in each other's arms, as the world around us faded away. In that moment, nothing else mattered. We had found each other again, and that was all that mattered. The talent program, the war, the pain, the loss—it all melted away in the face of our reunion.

"I love you," I murmured. I should have said it long ago.  Deep down I felt it the moment she said it to me in the dorm room. I should have said it then. 

"I love you too," she replied, her voice steady and sure. "And I always will."

She cupped my cheeks then crashed her lips onto mine. It caught me by surprise but quickly melted into them. They were soft and warm causing my stomach to flutter as if it was full of butterflies. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close. Her lips fit lightly against mine as if that was always where they belonged. 

The kiss was soft at first, tentative, as if we were both afraid to break the spell. But then it deepened, and all the emotions we had kept bottled up for so long poured out in that single, perfect kiss.

When we finally pulled away, I felt like I was floating. She rested her forehead against mine, her eyes closed, a contented smile.

"That was worth the wait," she murmured, and I couldn't help but agree. She intertwined her hands with mine and led me to an empty bench. "How did you find me?" 

"It was a wild guess." Deep down I knew Ezra was who I could trust. He said she was safe and she was. He kept his word. All of them. A pit formed in my stomach on how I pushed him away. I shook my head, refusing to linger on the thoughts. "How do you remember me?" 

The last I saw her; she had no memory of me. She was not the Eydis I knew, and I didn't think I would see that Eydis again. The fact that she said my name and kissed me. She knew and she remembered. I had her back.

She let out a long sigh. "It's comes and goes. Some days I remember everything, sometimes it's fuzzy. Today is an everything day." 

"And when you don't remember?"

She shook her head. "I feel lost." 

"I can help guide you-" I stop myself. Maybe I'm rushing into this. My cheeks feel hot. 

She smiled. "I would like that. Do you plan to stay?"

"I can stay as long as you would like me to." 

Her smile grew. "I would like that very much."