Part 1, Chapter 13 Summary

Outside with permission in the delicious night air, Briony is comforted that Cecilia is safe with their brother Leon. Briony pictures the foolish twins floating facedown in death. She exults in running across the firm ground as in her dreams, which always end in her soaring to the base of the clouds. Writing, she muses, is a form of flight. Briony figures that adult hatred, which Robbie must feel toward her for interrupting his assault, must be far worse than children's. Briony will protect her sister even if Cecilia will not acknowledge it. Briony aches to tell, without childish melodrama, this story of an old family friend turned villain. Truth is strange and deceptive and must be struggled for. At a distance, Briony sees Cecilia and Leon walking together. Surely, Cecilia is telling him about the assault and the Tallis children...