“That ring.” The woman pointed at Effie’s Ring of the True Hero that hung around her neck.

“No!” said Effie automatically. “That’s my . . .” But then something shifted inside her and the word “my” didn’t seem to mean very much. It was a bit like in the market before when Effie had lost herself in the great mass of being. Mine, yours, theirs, ours: It all seemed to be the same thing. And anyway, Effie didn’t even wear it anymore.

“Okay,” she said, surprising herself. “Have it.” She took the ring from around her neck and held it out to the woman. “Maybe it’ll bring you more luck than it’s brought me.”

The woman took the ring off the necklace and put it on. Effie expected to feel terrible, but giving up the ring made her feel ten times lighter. She felt warm, despite the snow, and whole. Maybe she didn’t need it after all. Maybe she didn’t need anything. She suddenly felt herself drifting like a snowflake into a world of many, many snowflakes where all that mattered was falling faintly, faintly falling through the air, and—

“Now give me your necklace,” came the woman’s sharp voice.

Effie’s Sword of Light necklace was her most precious possession. But what really was a possession anyway? Did a snowflake need possessions? Did the sun or the moon have possessions? And in any case Effie’s necklace had also only brought her trouble. Of course, she loved it. But did it really make sense to love an object like that? Something that could be lost or broken or stolen? What if the object was removed but love remained? What would happen if that happened to all objects and all possessions . . . ? What if people chose love instead? After all, objects tarnish eventually, and decompose. But love and light never change. They are constant and glorious and—

“Here,” said Effie. She unclasped the necklace and—

and—

snowflakes falling, falling, then—

The snow was gone. Effie was suddenly in a magnificent castle with a purple crushed-velvet carpet and a massive throne that changed into a head teacher’s comfortable old study that changed into a tennis court with an umpire’s chair that changed into Cosmo’s tower room and then back into the magnificent castle again. On the throne sat the homeless woman, wearing a massive diamond crown. On closer inspection, though, the crown was made of ice crystals on a garland of leaves and . . .

Now the scene changed again. It was summer, and Effie was walking barefoot over grass toward a small cottage. Outside, the same woman sat in a rocking chair knitting something.

Effie approached her.

“Please take this,” Effie said, holding out her Sword of Light necklace.

“I don’t need it any more than you do,” said the woman.