That's different, Ellie wants to yell. That's different, because she asked. You weren't supposed to go down with her.

Ellie doesn't say it, either because of the secrets she still keeps or the respect she has for Logan's story. She's not which it is. Maybe both. It leaves her with a fallow spot, though, nothing to say, so she just nods dumbly and rubs at her face, trying to hide the tears or wish them away. They just streak dirt and dried blood.

"I dunno what she would've wanted," Ellie says with a shrug. She liked Riley. She thinks she loved her. But they were both selfish brats back then, stupid and naive. Who knows what Riley would want, if Ellie could reach back through that endless divide. It's impossible to guess.

Ellie would rather focus on something more concrete. She looks at the woman in the pink robe, smiling beautifully. "What was she like?" Ellie asks. "Lookin' like that... it'd be impossible, now."

Now, she means, where I'm from, she means, after the end of everything.