“Sometimes that’s the bravest thing to do, buttercup,” Ester professed, and it might have sounded more profound if she had not been half-dressed, lazy from the laudanum, and scratching restlessly at her right thigh. But it did take bravery, she thought, breaking free of everything. It wasn’t what people saw, of course, they saw a spineless coward who would rather run, but sometimes, she thought, the most cowardly thing was to stay, and lie to oneself and everyone else about - being happy, being who you were. Honesty took guts. And having guts deserved a reward, and some well-earned relaxation, and -
“Best to burn all the bridges at once, I say,” she added, leaning forwards and setting another bottle of laudanum drops within his reach on the coffee table with a pointed clink. She yawned, as if to tempt him back to sleep on her couch rather than to a quidditch practice that it sounded like he was mostly lying to himself about going to, anyway. “And rise like a phoenix from the ashes later.”
“Best to burn all the bridges at once, I say,” she added, leaning forwards and setting another bottle of laudanum drops within his reach on the coffee table with a pointed clink. She yawned, as if to tempt him back to sleep on her couch rather than to a quidditch practice that it sounded like he was mostly lying to himself about going to, anyway. “And rise like a phoenix from the ashes later.”
![[Image: uWJZ5yA.png]](https://i.imgur.com/uWJZ5yA.png)