the third note

Do you know what an archipelago is? It is a cluster of islands all swimming together, carrying different lands but sharing one ocean. It is many houses in one home. A dozen lungs with the same breath.

On the island of Tahena, a mother prays for her daughters to be safe.

When Yanna's girls were still young, she'd read to them stories about the two hundred half-moons stretching across the sky. They dotted the deep endless blue like fields of uncoordinated lilacs, each varying in size and texture.

Now as she looked up, she could swear there were a dozen new moons. They made her think of the freckles splashing across Emm's nose, how sad Emm was when she looked in the mirror. How happy she became when her sister, Edaline, called her a moon-dragon.

Yanna wondered where they were, how their life was on the other side of the Delfin Sea. She reached for them with her whole being, wanting them to know that no ocean could keep a mother's love at bay.

Yanna counted the moons again, wondering what new lands her daughters would find. Hoping their breaths would only grow stronger. Praying that no matter how far they went, they'd always be home.