Phoenix Maplewood i'll wind up working in the thick of it

she could tell something was strangely off, just by the stifled energy that seemed to emanate from the male she hardly knew. occasionally she cast him wary glances from her peripherals, wholly unaware he was about to announce something that would shatter the thin ropes that tethered her world. he caught up to her and his tone suddenly became reflective, almost grim in their inflection -- indra slowed to a halt and looked upon his features with confusion. there was no mistaking the burden in his words, nor the careful way he had deliberately stressed her name -- i'm a redleaf too.

how? indra's jaws worked, but no sound met the air. her pinched expression had fallen in favor of shock. a redleaf -- him? she looked him down from bow to stem again; his youthfully sharp features, the pied russet behind his ears and on his tail.

unmistakable, yet she had overlooked it.

"what?" she half whispered, half cried, her voice hoarse and strangled. her mother, as his mother? how? warbone? someone else? she couldn't fathom it - maybe she didn't have the stomach for the constellation of relationships her parents had fostered. in many ways warbone had been the austere father figure she had always wanted -- and there was luke, also -- how many men had saena captured? who was at fault -- her mother, or her father? she felt her side list and she sat down suddenly, her brow furrowed in deep perplexity.