When she was little, Sunny's mother used to scold her for carrying on when she got upset. So she'd learned over time how to do more and cry less.

This wasn't going to be one of those moments.

It crushed her all at once just how much she missed Orlu and Chichi and Sasha, all the fear of that encounter which they had had to comfort each other through, being told by their mentors that fear was something they'd just have to deal with on the path to mastering magic.

And when Spencer of all people hugged her, well...

She let her right arm dangle, still holding the knife tight in her grip, but her left arm hung on and she hid her face in his shoulder and just took a minute to unravel.