"You're none of that, alright?" Bryn whispered into my hair.  She had a kind of brutal protectiveness that tested most friendships, but I appreciated it. I always knew where I stood with her. And she was generous to a fault, both with her time and her possessions. Friends were rare, not just for Bryn, but for me too so I knew that the friends she did spend time with, her loyalty to them was fierce. Some friends are for a reason, some are for a season and some are for life. She was for life. I loved her. Especially in brokenly fragile moments like this. I felt her fingers in my hair, gently smoothing back down. We had never been good with physical contact; hugs were seldom used in our friendship so we knew how the situation must be in the extremes if we ever hugged. I felt a sudden chill as she stood up. I silently watched her close the door.

    "Why are you here?" I asked hoarsely, my voice shaking, "why did you leave Nick?" Bryn's face flashed with an emotion I couldn't pinpoint. Her shoes gently tapped over the tiles, before she came down beside me. She always understood the significance of things, why hurtful comments hurt and why slights from other teens could wound so much. She was that listening ear and I valued her company more than she knew. 

    It was then that I was suddenly struck with how beautiful she was. Bryn was a beautiful woman, and not only on the outside. She had a kind of understated beauty and perhaps it was because she was so disarmingly unaware of her prettiness. With her latin looks and high cheek bones it was all so simple. She was all about simplicity, making things easy, helping those around her to relax and be happy with what they have. Perhaps that is why her skin glowed so, it was her inner beauty that lit her eyes and softened her features. When she smiled and laughed you couldn't help but smile along too, even if it was just on the inside. To be in her company was to feel that you too were someone, that you had been warmed in summer rays regardless of the season.

    "You needed me." It wasn't the first time she had ever stated that and I doubt it would be the last. If you were to personify love even in times of trouble, of hardship or war, then Bryn was truly one of the mighty. Through the many years of school and of boyfriends and fake friends, no matter how many stresses were laid upon her shoulders, she had never given up. On herself or on me. Not when I needed it. It was magical and I knew she had showed more grace than many do in times of peace. 

    "I'm not your responsibility," I replied dully, "besides, it's nothing that can't be fixed in an hour or so. I've got to kill time somehow." Bryn looked at me the way she had always looked at me, even when she was angry with me; with respect. I knew how much effort it could take to look at someone else and take in who they are and show them you regard their point of view with compassion and seriousness. The way she listened without judgement, getting to know people with as few assumptions as possible. It is in careful understanding conveyed by empathic words and deeds to show the depth of feeling you hold for them. It was something she had always been a quiet master in. 

    "I know you," Bryn replied fiercely, "I know when you need space but I also know when space is something you want but not what you need. So let me help you." I looked up at her. Her eyes swam with emotion. Protectiveness. Kindness. Worry. Gentleness. Compassion. Stubbornness. 

    She had smooth, dry skin with small freckles sprinkled about like confetti. Her eyebrows curved in swooping arches over her eyes and her small button like nose completed her wide forehead and blunt chin. These features would not turn heads, or make anyone look twice; they were normal, plain even according to Bryn, although I knew she had never come close to seeing herself as I did. But, the real deal were her eyes. They were like the stars, the way they drew you in to explore the swirling emotion held in their depths. The black of her pupil was surrounded by a ring of jagged silver fire swallowed by sapphire blue. At one glance her eyes merely shone, but if you dared to look closer you could clearly see the sadness of heartbreak, the joy of love, the hope of the future, the pain of sorrow, and the fire of a spirit that would never give up. The way she would not give up on me. Not now, and not in another ten thousand life times. 

    "I don't know why I did it," I whispered, breaking away from my friend, my keeper of the galaxies, "I don't know why I asked him about her. I knew it would end like this but I asked him anyway." Bryn took my hands into her gently. I looked back at her in dull surprise. For all the gentleness in the world there was the equal parallel of ferocity. Her words caught me, and I couldn't help but listen. 

    "Because you wanted to make up for hurting him. Because deep down, you do care for him. More than you'd like to admit. Being this open, this emotionally vulnerable is hard. I know it's hard for you. Your ex, your Kienai was someone special. It's not bad to let him go and want someone else. Heartbreak of course, is something people never want to experience and sometimes that's what scares them out of love. There is a certain type of pain when someone passes away and you mourn their loss and there is always plenty of advice on the types of things you'd be feeling in the moment. But heartbreak is something different; you mourn the loss of someone who is still alive. You can't go pay your respects by a gravestone or lay down flowers. You simply have to live with the loss as horrible as it sounds.

Your shared your vulnerabilities more readily than trading cards, interlocking your hearts as much as your fingers. He took root in you in a way you would never have dreamed of letting another soul do, feeling that he was your shelter and you were his. Maybe one person can't heal you, but I can help you to heal yourself." It was odd to think about. A fresh start seemed like closure; something I would never get close to achieving. A fresh start is the weirdest thing, as if everything that happened to this point in time, was a prequel to what comes next. Like suddenly, a book had closed and a new one had opened, appearing one word after the other, albeit a little slowly, as if they had a calmness the first volume never possessed. And they come like natural music, as drops of rain upon a spreading leaf, chaotic and rhythmic all at once. And as these words form, in deepest blue dancing over a white page, they are as dance steps, my own motions, deliberate and intuitive, yet also guided by the ever present music. And this is the way of everything, the chaos, the synchrony, the guidance... and everything with a sprinkle of destiny. Maybe it was really time to give up Kienai. I would never have met him yet a little piece of me still yearned for it. Yearned for him. 

    "You can help me heal?" Spending so much time around colours when designing clothes, I was well used to the colours. I was an artist, and most artists knew the colours and the many different layers there were to them. To every shade there were ten more shades abaft it, and Bryn's eyes were the perfect kind of electric blue. Striking yet soft. Not the electric shock that paralysed you or crawled under your muscles, but the kind that made your blood dance. 

    "Kens, I will always remember those moments when we laugh together, get scoldings together, when we play pranks on our friends. I appreciate what we have. No matter how far across the continent you are, nothing with us will change. If healing is what you need, I will help you. You helped me once with my stupid ex boyfriend drama and if healing is what you need to get over yours, then I'll help you. I promise." Her voice was strong and it was the type of voice you just couldn't ignore. She didn't have super strength, or laser eyes. She couldn't read minds or move things without touching them. But she saved me in that moment from the darkness, the villain living inside me, and she did it so bravely. Again. She had became my hero long ago and my light and my guidance. She had become everything I needed without realising it. 

    Her power and strength came from her raw vulnerabilities, something I don't think I will ever come close to understanding. I had long ago hidden mine away, worried if they were told to the wrong person they would be used against me. Bryn however, wore them proudly like her rainbow badges or her vegan labelled clothing. There was something about her honesty of her vulnerabilities that seemed to make her untouchable. By owning what made her different, she became a new breed of champion. A new league of untouchable. Every day she worked for a better tomorrow, a more noble outcome. For her a rock in her path was simply an opportunity to think harder, to develop new solutions which is what she would do for me now. Develop a new solution to fix me. 

    Her conviction shook me. I had always thought once I had fallen I would never be able to get up yet she showed me sometimes falling is necessary and it wasn't gracefully like ballerinas. I smashed into the ground. the cold, cruel, corrosive ground broke my bones and my soul. So I lay there for a minute, wondering how I was ever going to be able to get back up again. But I found a way.

    "You'll pick up all the pieces someone else carelessly broke and you will build. Build yourself all over again. It doesn't have to be a clean process or a simple one. It will be messy and it will be long. Some pieces will be cracked, but I promise, your brokenness is beauty." I

    "We better cleaned up, hey?" I laughed although it sounded watery, "I need to clean you up. You look like you've been chasing a really terrifying racoon," I paused to look at myself in the mirror, "and to be honest, I look like the racoon." Bryn smiled, tears dripping as a little part of my broken spirit returned. We laughed. We were in that state of intoxication where we could find no release from maddening self-consciousness. We knew what we were doing, we did it deliberately. And yet we were also beside ourselves, in a sort of hysterics. We could not help ourselves in exasperated self-consciousness. 

    After our long laughing sessions that I had missed, we both agreed to do each other's makeovers although I knew Bryn was secretly worried about how her face would look afterwards. 

    Grabbing a small stool in the right corner, Bryn grabbed it while I washed my hands, the skin reddening even more with the contact from the cold waters. Placing the stool in front of the large mirror, I sat down. She quickly pulled my blonde and curly hair into a quick messy bun. I sighed as I watched her pull out makeup palettes from mysterious corners of bag even I hadn't seen. 

    "You don't need foundation so don't give me that face," she laughed, "just sit still for me and you'll be done in seconds." I closed my eyes, trying not to fidget as I swear she poked my eyes with some sort of pencil, "you're lucky you're relatively tanned," she grumbled, glaring at her own skin which was as clean as snow. I laughed. 

    "Trust me, you do not want to look like a latte in winter then become a roasted coffee bean in summer." I regretted opening my mouth as she set the newly applied mascara, lip gloss and eyeliner with a setting spray. Spitting out the remains of what I had gotten in my mouth, I almost slipped in shock upon seeing myself. 

    "What's wrong?" Bryn gasped as she rushed to catch me, "what is it! What's wrong? is it too m-?" I cut her off, covering her mouth with my hand.

    "I look," I stopped, trying to find the word, slowly removing my hand from her mouth.

    "Beautiful," she finished, clearly pleased with her work. I grinned devilishly. 

    "Now, it's your turn!" Bryn let out a small groan, clearly displeased. I tutted in disapproval.

    "Sit!" I commanded. Bryn had a lot to say apparently now that she was finished with making sure I looked half decent. 

    "I actually zoned out when you and Nick had your little spat," she admitted, "but I kinda snapped out of it the moment you ran. Plus, my girl senses indicated you would be here." I stopped applying eyeshadow for a moment and raised my eyes jokingly.

    "You have girl senses?" Bryn laughed as she gently slapped me. 

    "That's besides the point," she said, rolling her eyes good-humouredly, "the point though, is that I think you should talk to him." I stopped applying her mascara. 

    "I'm sorry, but what?" I asked, smiling without humour, jerking my head forward in shock. Bryn sighed, tapping my arm gently in her way of asking me to continue with whatever I was doing to her face.

    "Well, before I found you, I checked the board," she sighed, "and we only have three to four hours now before the plane takes off." I almost snapped the mascara brush.

    "Why can't anything just stay on time," I grumbled, ignoring Bryn's snort, "I mean, I know I'm never on time," I started, "but at least I don't say I'm going to be 19 hours late then literally an hour later decide I'll show up in three or four hours." Bryn shook her head good-naturedly. I finished her look with spraying her in the face which really was just for my benefit instead of hers.

    "It actually looks really good," Bryn smiled shyly. I grinned back. A makeup compliment didn't come around everyday. Especially from Bryn, "also, I found a sale!" I sighed, while Bryn gasped at me, "you can't expect me not to take advantage of that!" she rambled, "besides, you said I could take you shopping except we never went so me buying you on sale clothes is pretty much the same thing or the next best deal! Plus, you know me. I always carry spare things for emergencies and this is a fashion emergency." I watched in amusement as she reached into her bag and pulled out two pairs of clothes. The first thing she pulled out was a cute white t-shirt with green outlines around the collar and sleeves with a little black "vegan" logo on the top right corner. I smiled.

"I'm glad you got that. I'm sure Germans will love to learn about your diet," I joked. Bryn ignored me, showing me a denim and floral skirt. I walked closer as she pulled out another outfit;  a casual cream turtleneck with an beige and black checked skirt. I smiled, shaking my head. Of course it was a skirt. I sighed, knowing I'd never get out of this. Moving into an empty stall, I changed quickly out my salty and soggy clothes before I got into Bryn's new ones. I headed out, gasping in joy seeing Bryn.

    The white shirt stuck to her figure, graciously showing her slight curves while the skirt was dead straight with gentle floral patterns decorating the sides of her calves. 

    "New emotions, new us?" I asked as I gave her a little twirl. The skirt stuck to my hips before staying flat like the school skirts we used to once wear. It ended just before my knees and I had tucked the sweater into it, my hands almost hidden by the long sleeves. Bryn gave me a satisfactory head nod. Linking arms, we walked out of the bathroom like we hadn't just wrecked it with perfume, random bits of hair and salty tears. We were about to head back to the waiting area where Nick would have been when suddenly a calm voice rang out over the public announcement system saying:

    Miss Anderson and Miss Marshall, please make your way to Gate 17 in the West Wing.