Larksong Grotto Jigsaw Puzzle

It was a blow to her heart, hearing the confirmation that her parents were dead -- not that she'd expected them to live this long, but ignorance is sometimes bliss -- but the wound was soothed with the knowledge that not just Holly had a child, but they both now ruled the Valley. Still in the family, it seemed, and Nova was proud of her littermates. Akino wasn't alone, either -- he had two brothers and a sister in his litter. Marley wasn't likely to have anymore pups -- nor were Holly and Nova, honestly, at their age -- but at least now there were his children to carry on the Rose family. Holly and Anala, too, would keep Heartsong alive and thriving -- the packs would live on for a long while, she hoped, though she wasn't there to see it. Her days would be lived out here, in Larksong Grotto, learning and spreading the word of Raas. 

The golden woman grinned to hear that Akino didn't wish to leave, tail wagging behind her with renewed vigor at the prospect of bringing her family into the light of her Lord. Though she nodded to her nephew, agreeing that she would share with him all she knew, she didn't speak, leaving the encounter to the Cardinal -- it wasn't her right or her way to vie for others, and she wasn't about to start now. For an amazed moment, however, the elder felt like she was looking down upon the meeting from above, in a daze and unable to do anything but react: she had not lived in vain. She would be able to pass on all she knew to another! It would not vanish into a void with her after death, be lost in oblivion -- Akino, a child of her own blood, would gain it all before her passing, and then he, in turn, could give it to someone else. 

Hiram's words of the Daystar brought her attention back, but even though she turned her spectral eyes hopefully to Akino, everything was still a bit hazey. Normally, she would have encouraged him into this path verbally, but today she offered only a nod and a kind-hearted smile.