They sat on the bench just inside the gate, close enough that their knees touched. Mary kept adjusting the sleeve of her jacket like it was too tight. Ester kept rubbing her hands together even though it was no longer that cold.
"You two look like I'm walking straight into my grave," Iyisha said, trying to keep it light.
Mary shot her a look. "Don't joke."
"I'm serious," Iyisha said. "I'm leaving the gate, not stepping off a cliff."
Ester's mouth trembled despite herself. "You almost froze to death last time you left," she said. "That's not nothing."
Iyisha exhaled slowly. "And I didn't," she said. "I came back."
"That's the point," Mary replied, her voice tightening despite her effort to keep it steady. "You came back, this time, you're not going to come back, are you?"
Iyisha looked at her and smiled, soft and honest, the kind that did not pretend. "I don't know," she said. "It's a long drive from New York."
The words hung there, heavier than they sounded.
