The Sentinels Too much sauce

Whether or not it would prove to be true, Spur decided to clutch onto this hope that her father and brother had both somehow safely turned up at the Keep. Deirdre assured her that she would escort her there to find out as soon as she had recovered from the spell. Part of her wanted to argue, insist they go now, but she had no desire to defy the witch. Besides, she knew Deirdre was right. If she had been out of it for a few days, she needed some time to rebuild her strength for a trip like that.

Then her friend mentioned sending a messenger for her and Spur brightened. "Please," she breathed, then delighted even more at the notion of her mother coming to visit and collect her. But then she remembered. "My mommy's leg is broken. I don't think she can come here..." Harlyn had broken her leg the very same day Pippin had vanished. Spur's lips pursed, some of that cursory glow fading again.

Deirdre's next question scattered her thoughts. She had caught herself wishing a time or two that she lived here or that her friend could accompany her back to the Keep. But it had always been nothing more than an idle daydream. And as much as she wished for it, Spur's immediate instinct was to decline. She needed her family. They needed her too. They had been apart for far too long and she wanted nothing more than to become the happy family unit they had once been. Besides, she was too young to be on her own yet. She wouldn't even be an adult for another month or more.

She opened her mouth to answer, only for it to clap shut softly. She was nearly grown. She had somehow survived without a family (or, rather, with a fake family) for weeks now. And Larkspur knew that, even if they were all together again, that things would never go back to the way they were in Lost Creek Hollow. She would forever cherish that brief golden era of her childhood but those days were gone. Maybe it was time to let go and find her happiness in a different place.

Instead of answering, Spur found herself whispering, "Do you wish that? For me to stay? With you?"