The Heartwood beneath the cedars all my love i gave

Phocion watched her as she spoke, cerulean eyes twin tongues of flame in the darkness. She talked of love found, and love lost. Her voice sounded bereft and hollow, and he moved to touch his nose to her shoulder, if she would allow, in a small gesture of comfort.

"I am sorry for your losses," he whispered, pulling back to meet her gaze once more. He lifted his muzzle to the sky. "They never leave us, though. They become one with the stars--whichever guided their paths, they join."

From his lips slipped a sigh, as a vision of his mother came suddenly and vividly to mind. Her creamy pelage, her glittering eyes. A laugh more infectious than any he'd heard. He often wondered which star was hers: one of the brighter ones, he surmised. She had been nothing if not bright.

Cortland's scent slipped toward him on the breeze, and he looked round, smiling softly at the boy. Like Ava, it was not a direct invitation given--come if you like, his open face said silently, then he turned back to the woman.

"What do you seek, now?" he asked, reminded of his conversation with Cortland by the alpine lake.

They spoke at length, and didn't realize how long they had been doing so, until the pink moon began to descend below the horizon and the light of dawn kissed the eastern sky.