"Okay."

She took a deep breath--funny, if you think about it--and then she let go, andfell into the sky.

First she was like a kite, and then a scrap of paper, and at the very last shewas a rapidly tumbling speck. I stood for a long time watching her falling,dwindling, until she was lost in the background flicker of the universe, justone more spark in infinity.

She was gone and I couldn't help wondering if she had ever really been there atall. Had the Widow truly been Elizabeth Connelly? Or was she just anotherfragment of my shattered self, a bundle of related memories that I had to cometo terms with before I could bring myself to let go? A vast emptiness seemed tospread itself through all of existence. I clutched the mast spasmodically then,and thought: I can't!

But the moment passed. I've got a lot of questions, and there aren't any answershere. In just another instat, I'll let go and follow Elizabeth (if Elizabeth shewas) into the night. I will fall forever and I will be converted to backgroundradiation, smeared ever thinner and cooler across the universe, a smooth,uniform, and universal message that has only one decode. Let Thalia carry mystory to whoever cares to listen. I won't be here for it.

It's time to go now. Time and then some to leave. I'm frightened, and I'm going.

Now.