It was not the smile of resignation, the peace some prisoners find at the very end.

It was not the brave, breaking smile of a mother trying to comfort a child.

It was something none of them had expected and none of them could immediately name, and it was only much later, when they understood what Chloe had whispered, that they were able to put a word to it.

It was the smile of a person who has just been told, after five years in the dark, that the light is real, and coming, and that everything they had held onto against all reason had been true the whole time.

It was the smile of the vindicated.