it's burning through the bloodline

"I was nearby when the lightning hit your land. I saw the fire..." Andalusia faltered. The night still haunted her, and dredged up memories of her parents she'd long laid to rest. She ran from them with three years of practice - but this was new, and something she couldn't escape with good conscience. What reason did she have to care for Mordecai beyond their bloodline? Nothing - yet somehow, that connection was enough. The first Ostrega beyond her siblings, and to have lost him to the fire - she bristled at the thought. The need to know and see the damage turned her around even as she stepped further and further from the Teekon Wilds. Now at the steps of the Plateau, with Mordecai here strong and healthy as ever, was it silly she'd worried so much? It couldn't have been. If life and death had been true to character, he wouldn't have shown up at all. Her gaze darkened as she continued. "The summer hasn't been kind. I needed to know you were alright."