Phoenix Maplewood rome is burning

too many were missing, still. dawn, pema, shale, sebastian. . . and there were children unaccounted for, too. aditya paced restlessly through the ranks, softening his eyes as he approached sunny, trying to soothe the boy's worries. he gave a nod to fus. "be careful, if you do go," adi said softly. "do not go into the heart of the fire."

they couldn't lose fus. they had likely lost so much already. eventide was milling around, close by, but river and kitten were missing. gone as well were timberlake and meadow--shale had already dropped padma off, before returning to look for his other children. his heart was lodged firmly in his smoke-reddened throat as he began to do a head count, then another. over and over--

coming up short again. and again. and again.