Not Just Half

Leina · Apr 29, 2026

At night, looking at the edge of the legless mattress,
Yu said something in a voice that wasn't quite easy to say.

Talking to Leina — who lived here,
in a world of canned food and crackers and rain and haze and Driprimba —
about Terra, or the louder, safer worlds of Frolantern:
it felt somehow dishonest, he said.

Like bringing up richer places
to someone who only knew this one
might mean assuming she was to be pitied.

Leina listened.
She understood the impulse to protect.
She understood the kindness in it.

But —

"When you draw that line," she said,
"it feels like I can only be with you
halfway.
And that makes me a little sad."

She didn't dislike this world of canned food and crackers.
The rain, the haze, the Driprimba —
this place had settled into her
as genuinely her own.

Which was exactly why
she wanted to hear about Terra too.
About the louder places.
About the road Yu had walked.

She didn't want this to become
a place he spoke about apologetically.

That was her honest feeling —
with a little selfishness mixed in.

Not just half.
She wanted the building with the bridge painted on it
to be included
in all of Yu's world.

That was the quiet wish
of that night.