Mariana was not phased in the least by Mr. Matheos’s dark comment, rolling her eyes as her weight shifted to rest on one hip more than the other. [color=#b30059][b]”He’ll be kicking on with nobody left to kick.”[/b][/color] She nudged Roderic with her elbow, a playful light shining through in the look she shot toward Ray. [color=#b30059][b]”I don’t know who he thinks is gonna put up with him, if all of us are gone. And, you? You think I’m about to let you be buried near me, Mr. Montana, with whatever riddle you ask to have put on your headstone?”[/b][/color]

She pursed her lips in mock disappointment, but the energy of being around old companions forced its way onto her face. Then Roderic complimented her for aging, and she was back to laughing.

It was strange, how being around people she had met in the worst days of her life was making her heart feel easy. 

Perhaps it was the weight of pretense falling off of her shoulders. 
 
Mariana sighed, waving off the fit of girlish levity that had taken her over. [color=#b30059][b]”The boys are good,”[/b][/color] she replied after a pause. She reached into her pocket to pull out her cellphone, and held it out for the others to take. The background photo was of her and three young men, two towering over her, and one very nearly her size.

[color=#b30059][b]”You know Ricky,”[/b][/color] she said proudly, tapping toward the oldest of the three: A strapping young man with thick black hair.[color=#b30059][b]”He’s in his second year of college. Taking a gap year to go into the Peace Corps, now. And then- Oh! Ray, did you ever meet Elliot? He’s my second with- Well, you know.”[/b][/color] She pointed toward a teen in a blue cap and gown, with a fairer complexion and a boyish face. [color=#b30059][b]”He just graduated high school this past year, and he’s going into the Coast Guard. We’re very proud. And this- I know neither of you have met him, but Rodric has seen pictures- This is Santiago. My little Jimmi.”[/b][/color]
 
The smallest boy in the picture stood the closest to Mariana, boasting a head of long, pitch-colored hair and excitable eyes as dark as coal. [color=#b30059][b]”He starts high school next year, so he’ll be with us, then. The only one in the family with magic- A Defender, obviously,”[/b][/color] she said, and took her phone back to check that she had not missed any calls.

[color=#b30059][b]”So, that’s how the Guerra household is doing. And what about your lives? What have you been getting up to? I haven’t seen you,”[/b][/color] she said to Ray, [color=#b30059][b]”In what? Five years? More? What’re you doing to kill the time?”[/b][/color]