Who Needs a Dream? Who Needs Ambition?

Far from seeing Anatoly's gesture as too forward, Sookie felt it welcome, the closeness of another person and empathy which passed between the two of them through touch alone. Immediately, she smiled, letting her gaze dip down to brush over the chess pieces, pretty and orderly as they were.

"I had somethin' like that for a while," she nodded. "Spellin' bees. I mean, it's less about strategy and more simply either knowin' or not knowin'." Sookie neglected to mention the fact that when she couldn't remember how to spell a specific word, she simply ha to dip into another person's thoughts, like the judge as they looked down at the dictionary. "But I never stopped wantin' more, stuff that I can't plan out all the way, stuff that makes me feel alive. I might've found it again here, and... well, all that we can do is hope, right? That things work out."