I held her, and felt myself slipping back. But something was wrong. Something was making it a lot harder than it should have been. I knew what it was.

Sometimes, I had found, I would latch onto something in my visualizations. If I did, I couldn’t return unless I let it go. I had to let her go to return.

I flat out refused.

I knew if I tried hard enough, fought hard enough, I could cling to her, but still come back to myself. After… what? Minutes? Hours? Years? Well, after some time, I succeeded.

Beyond my wildest dreams.

At some point during my meditation, I had fallen over. I lay on the floor, too weak to move. God, how long had I been gone?! I could still feel her in my arms. I clung to that feeling. If I was going to starve to death here, I wanted that to be my last sensation.

“How…” Her voice. But not in my head. It wasn’t possible!

I opened my eyes. Somehow, I don’t know how, but somehow. I had brought her back with me!