The Sunspire And as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be friends forever

Her sister did not react to the brief nuzzle, which Junior took as a good sign, even if it left her feeling a little hollow. She took a seat, her two-toned eyes roving over Tytonidae's familiar features. You look darker, she thought to herself. It wasn't just about the color of Ty's fur, either. It was as if there was a cloud lurking over her sister's head, invisible but casting some sort of shadow over her.

"That's cool!" Junior said enthusiastically, happy that Ty had found someone special. "I live a few days north of here in a pack called Thief River Falls. I'm the Beta. I have a boy too. His name is Swordfish." She cracked a smile, though it fell when Tytonidae asked about their mother. "No... she isn't. I haven't seen mom in... an age," she said. And, honestly, she didn't miss either one of their parents.

"Will you tell me more about Summer? And your life here?" she requested in the next beat. "Happy birthday, by the way! We're one... or we will be soon, anyway." She shrugged a bony black shoulder. She couldn't recall the exact date (and she knew Saena's and Pura's was technically different) but she did know they'd been born in early spring, which it was again now, a full year later.