I'm falling. Or at least, I should be. I really, really oughta be. I can't, I can't, sheesh. I can't stand up anymore. My legs won't hold me. But. But. But here I am on my feet. 'Cause I'm being held up by the strongest, softest, most loving arms in the whole wide world.

I can't breathe. Oh gosh. Oh no. I can't. I can't stop crying. I can't. I'm. The sounds I'm making are so ugly it hurts. I can't tell if I'm gonna throw up or if that's just what my voice sounds like forever now. It's so bad I'm starting to hiccup. I can't move except to bury my face in her shoulder and just, just, stay there forever. It's as warm as I remember. She's just like I remember, except for that scar. How did I not notice?! I woulda done everything so different if I knew! Sis! Sis! Sis, Sis, Sis, Sis!!

"Wh-wh-who's a dummy, dummy?! You're the! You're so! So!" I pound her back with my fist and I wouldn't care if it hurt her or not except I'm shaking so hard I can't put anything into it, and I'm still hugging her anyway so I don't know if she even notices, "You jerk. I wanted to see it! Where's the second health bar you promised me? You're such a liar. You're... you..."

I'm cut off by another wave of sobbing, only this time I feel her shaking while she's holding me and I know it's got her too. And that's why I can't be mad. I couldn't even if I hadn't seen that look on her face when the mask came off, 'cause this crying's the proof that she still loves me. She left when I was getting good and grown up and we haven't seen or heard from each other hardly in years, but she loves me. I love her. You don't cry if you don't care, remember? Of course you, I, uh. Um. Y-yeah. Yeah. Snnnffffrrrrrrk.

I have to pull away now. I have to stop hugging her. I have to even though it's impossible 'cause if I don't she can't see how much I'm smiling. And besides, I wanna, I wanna, I have to see her too! It's been so long, how'm I supposed to make do with only looking at her sleeve and the bit where it meets her neck? Nuh uh! Nuh uh, I say! That's my big sister! My big sister's a princess! My big sister's a [i]princess![/i]

...My big sister's a princess?!?

Suddenly she's not enough to hold me up anymore. Suddenly I'm dragging her down to the floor. Suddenly we're both on our knees, and laughing until we choke, like we used to when one of us would tell a stupid joke over tea. Like we did when we were kids. Like we did when we were together. Oh my gosh, my big sister. Who loves the city more than anything, and always knows the words to every song. Who tried her best to teach me so much, even though I never could seem to keep up. 

"Oh gosh darn it, excuse me," I manage through fresh titters and a new wave of blushing, "No wonder I look so amazing. It's you, isn't it? You picked out my clothes for me again!"

Sis looks at me and laughs, and it's as much a melody as I remember it from before. She's got a way about her that always makes her seem like she's about to burst into song, even though she almost never does. It's how she carries herself, I guess. Those careful little breaths she always makes, like she needs to disguise it so you won't hear her on a stage or whatever. The way she moves, 'cause there's such a rhythm to it I always think there's some secret beat that only she can hear following her around everywhere. And maybe there is. Or maybe it's more like this. Maybe all this time I missed how much she practices everything, and the stuff I thought was Big Sis Magic was really her workin' her butt off so she could keep bein' the center of somebody's world. 

Do you have a sister, too? There's so much about you I don't know, come to think. Big or little, doesn't matter. A brother's fine too. It's just, there's a special thing that happens when your family loves you, and in especial the part of your family that you grew up with, and that grew up with you. Adults who were always adults to you don't have it, and people who only turned special in your life later on have to get lucky to find it. There's a, a, a [i]thing[/i] when you hug a sister where your entire world turns into this thing of candlelight, soft blankets, and memories that come rushin' in from every corner of your life. 

It's, like, for me it feels the most like sneakin' outta the house late late late at night to watch the moon somewhere we could watch her dance and sing songs to her loud enough for her to hear them without wakin' Gran Gran. A warm, muggy summer night with cicadas chirpin' their hellos and a basket full've breads and dumplings and popcorn that was only mostly burned. And, 'cause all the songs a girl could sing to the moon were about drinkin', we had our own special 'wine'. Nobody'd sell somethin' that rare and sophisti-grown up to a pair of giggly sillyheads, but if you stirred warm cola into grape juice it seemed about the same. We were pretty sure, anyway. 

It's that. It's all of that. It's more than I've got words to tell you. When I'm in her arms, when she's in mine, the world shrinks all the way back to the paths and steps we walked together. I can taste it on my fingertips, if you catch my meanin'. I can't bring myself to ask her why she left. I can't bring myself to ask if all've this around us here was worth not havin' me around. I can't bring myself to ask her if she worried about me, and if she did then why didn't she come visit? I can't bring myself to ask her why it took me cutting my own heartache with a sword to put us in the same room again. 

I can't, 'cause I don't care. I've got my answers in the feeling of char on my lips. The soreness of my arms and legs. The warmth of her body and the strength she still uses to hold me close. The smell of sweat and the little zap of electricity that's all around us. She's here. She's [i]here[/i]. I'm here too. We're together, and it's like no time's passed between us at all.

We pull apart at long last. Every hug has an ending, sad as it is to say. My smile's giddy and foxy-mischief silly all at once. Ahhh, I just wanna flop over and take a nap. But if I close my eyes, I'll miss Hyra's picnic. I'll miss all the little things I was runnin' away from, though now that I'm here I can't really remember what was so scary about 'em to begin with. Besides, what kind of a good-for-nothing frizzy-brained sillymuffin would I be if I didn't stay awake long enough to take my sister to meet my [i]g i r l f r i e n d[/i] ? ? ?

"Hey," I say for no reason but to talk, "Did you know that Princess Chen is scared of you? You're, like, the only one she doesn't know how to handle. How's that make you feel, Sis?"