Northstar Vale Fram gjøno døri, gjøno kongro-sløri.

Towhee didn’t let her head drop back down right away. Instead, she sniffed the air. Everything smelled the same as before. Her lips drew into a thin line. She had no reason to think Maxim may have shown up—someone would’ve fetched her right away, she knew—but some part of her must’ve wondered. Towhee’s chest felt tight, though she reminded herself she already knew he would not be here. He would never be here. Maxim was dead. Nobody could convince her otherwise at this point.

Gently pushing thoughts of him from her mind, Towhee lowered her gaze to peer into the vale. It still looked the part of paradise, even if it had been ruined for her family. She idly wondered if anyone looked after Leo’s grave site and thought, Yes, of course, Tamar and Arsenio would never neglect it, even if the girl’s mother had decided she couldn’t dedicate herself to a piece of ground, no matter how sacred. Surely Jack helped keep it tidy too.

Thinking of her son made her yearn to see him. She missed his father but she had begun to move on from him. Towhee would never “get over” any of her kids. Her tail swayed gently, hoping he would have the time to visit today. She really would like to see Tamar too, to check in with everything and keep to her promise: “We won’t be strangers.”

But speaking of sons and strangers, a pup appeared. Towhee immediately knew this must be either Saleem or Sylianos, though she realized—with a mild pang—they wouldn’t recognize her at all. He yelled something at her but she couldn’t read his lips at all, which was somewhat baffling. Not even one word stood out.

-“Hiya, are you Saleem or Sylianos?”- she greeted, glancing past him in the hopes of spotting one of his parents.