The Weight of Peace

"Fourteen placements," I said. "You read a room differently when the room determines whether you stay."

Something moved in her face. The grief of it — the specific grief of someone who understands what fourteen placements means and what it cost and what it produced, and sits with both of those things at once.

"Yes," she said quietly. "I imagine you do."

She folded the paper back into her pocket.

"