The Heartwood Feel It All Without You

Andalusia had prepared for Harlyn to pass over her surname as a trivial thing, but when the woman repeated Ostrega with a sense of recognition, she felt her body grow rigid. A buzz welled inside, as she waited for Harlyn to match the name with Ciervo's - or maybe even Chehlia's. It took her a moment to register that the dark woman had said neither.

Though her body still hummed, a disappointment took hold when she realized she'd not found the packmate of her brother. "No, I'm afraid not," she said with a shake of her head. Yet the revelation brought a different curiosity. Mordecai Ostrega. Ostrega. She had been convinced only she and her siblings still carried the name, but she had little knowledge of their father, if he had brothers or uncles still alive at the time he died - and alive even now. "My father - his name was Dhani. Has Mordecai mentioned him?" Despite her curiosity, she couldn't suppress the way her mouth tightened when she spoke her father's name. It had been long since she'd thought of him as more than an enigma, or a figment of some disconnected past. That he had relatives still living beyond their quartet was a logical thought but, strangely enough, one Andalusia had not taken the time to entertain before.