winters breath has come

“I was thinking,” said Lan Wangji softly, and then paused. Jim, used to his moments of silence, let him sit there as the words came out slowly next. “Your hair. It has grown long.”“Yeah. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Jim reached back to feel it—nearly shoulder length. He wavered about keeping it long or short, but it seemed everyone here had it long, and given that he wasn’t a part of Starfleet right now, he could keep it this way.“I was thinking… you could…” The words came out slow, difficult, and then Lan Wangji said, almost in a rush for him, “It could be formed into a hairpiece with which to tie back your hair. In the low style to go down your back.” Lan Wangji held out the meteorite to Jim, a small piece of the world that was once Jim’s everything, and said, “A gift. From the stars. Like…”Like you.