This time, it was her turn to lean back, surprised into silence and thought. She was sad, and she was crying tonight for exactly the reason Thomas said. But she'd asked the question more for the family she'd been pulled away from... and...
She pulled breath hard into her lungs. Squeezed her palms over her knees. Her eyes widened. She didn't hurt because of her family. She missed them. She truly wished she never had come here. But she was sad because of the absence of someone she'd met here. Not at home.
A hand went over her mouth. She nodded gravely at Thomas. He was completely right. Her heart didn't ache for her sisters, for her father. Not anymore. And the more she thought about it, the harder it seemed to imagine France as her home. What had this place done to her that she could so casually... but no, it wasn't casual, it wasn't casual at all. The City had expanded her awareness, and now...
Now, she couldn't imagine living in a place so small as France.
The City was her home now. And the awareness of that was as shocking a thing as she'd ever known.