"If you want to, you will." And that's all she had to say on that, for the moment. It was hopelessly optimistic, at the very least, but Winter liked to imagine they would all make it out of there with the world open to them. Had to believe it because otherwise she wouldn't be able to keep pushing forward. She needed that optimism to keep her moving. And it had worked so far. Only on the coldest, darkest nights did she allow herself to worry otherwise. The truth was her heart couldn't take that kind of thought for very long. So she would cross her fingers and her heart that they would all end up where they wanted in the end.


"But," she paused, letting the moment hang briefly before she nodded firmly. "I hope the same, I really do."