To my best friend,

I’m sorry. I knew I should have said something sooner. I was so stupid to assume after everything was done I could have said what I was feeling. And now, I know these words will never reach you. Still, it's better late than never, I suppose.

When the world turned on me, you opened your arms and your home to me without hesitation. You extended your arm to my family to give them shelter from the storm of betrayal and hate. Even from the moment I first met you, you were always this way. It was so hard to fathom how even I, the hero everyone relies upon, could have a hero of her own to save me. I mean, whenever I was in trouble, you never hesitated.

Even to your last.

In the moment I was losing you, I couldn’t bear to let you go. I would have raged against even the Twelve if it meant I could keep you here, no matter how futile it might have been. Even as you laid there, struggling to breathe, fighting for your words, you asked me something so simple - to smile. And, for you, despite all the anger and the sadness, I did. You meant that much to me. I only hope that maybe, somewhere, deep down, you already knew that you were the most important person to me.

But, even now, I won’t cry. After all, a smile better suits a hero.

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Inhaled Corn of Hyperion, Noble Barding