“You have lost much,” I said to Farah and turned to Silence. “And you never had much.” I held tight to both their hands. “And now we have each other. So we will part, but we’ll always be as one. We will always have each other. And if you’ll allow me to, I shall bind us together as sisters in a way that no matter where we are, if we need the others, we can call out and join together.”

“How would we do that?” Silence asked.

“I would tie us to each other so we can meet through the astral plane,” I told her. “We would not be together in physical form, but we would be there in mind and in heart. And that is always all that’s needed.”

“It is,” Silence whispered.

“Let us do that,” Farah said.

“Yes, let’s,” Silence agreed.

I nodded.

“Bring your hands up between us, all together,” I instructed.

They did so, I did as well, and we pressed all our clenched fingers together.

“Now, to bind our minds. Bring in your foreheads.”

We joined in that way, pressing our foreheads together over our hands, Silence needing to get up on her toes and Farah and I needing to bend to her, she was so petite, but we did it.

I held tighter.

They did too.

All we could see was our hands and the leaves and dirt beyond them.

And each other.

“I wish Ha-Lah was here,” Silence murmured.

“Me too,” I said. “I will reach out to her. I cannot say it will work, but hopefully it will, and it will bind her to us as well.”

I felt nodding against my head.

“Let us begin,” I urged. “Repeat after me. We are strong.”

“We are strong,” they said in unison.

The sensation gathered in my back and I sent it down my legs, to the earth.

“We are minds,” I chanted.

“We are minds.”

“We are hearts.”

“We are hearts.”

I looked between Farah and Silence, their eyes so close, topaz and silver, as I felt the swirling around our ankles.

“We are wombs.”

“We are wombs.”

The magic moved up, enveloping feet, ankles, calves and knees.

“We are survivors.”

“We are survivors.”

And up, to our thighs and hips.

“We are warriors.”

“We are warriors.”

And the whirlwind consumed our bodies up to our torsos.

“We are one.”

“We are one.”

“We are sisters.”

“We are sisters.”

Our hair blew and tangled together all around us as the vortex fully engulfed us.

“I have but to call, and you will be there.”

“I have but to call, and you will be there,” Farah repeated.

“I have but to call, and you will be there,” Silence intoned.

“Nothing will break us.”

“Nothing will break us.”

“We are of the blood.”

“We are of the blood.”

“We are of the moon and stars.”

“We are of the moon and stars.”

“We are of the earth and seas.”