[At first she can't believe what she's hearing. She didn't even know it was possible. Can you transfer your deal to someone else, make it so they can wish for anything they want? Even stranger is the possibility that this is her right. No one has ever given her anything like this, not even Arkin when he gave her the ruby. That was something concrete, something tangible. This is too huge to comprehend.]

[She looks up at him with damp eyes, not quite crying but not quite not, either, her shoulders trembling with the effort of contained emotion.]

Ben, I don't.

[She's about to say she doesn't deserve this, but knows he'd object; anyway, she knows it's not true, after a moment's thought. She does deserve this. She's worked hard, hard enough to be a little greedy for herself, for once.]

[Clutching onto his sleeve, she lays her ear against his chest to listen to his heart; standing like that, she speaks, her voice low and slow and intent.]

I don't want to bring anyone back. My parents are dead. They should stay that way. I don't want anything like that.

I want something practical.