Golden Glade upon the moment i could talk, i was ordered to listen

following the posing of her difficult question, sionnach watched rannoch shrewdly. she recognized a subtle shift in his features as he sat -- distress -- her eyes narrowed.

for perhaps the first time, it occured to sionnach her parents did not control everything. so much of the trek had been out of their control; the loss and then reunion of her strange sister, the meld of two families, the sudden and painstaking disappearance of breccan.. she signed, pushing away the fern the way a child might push carrots from their plate.

she had nothing to say. for once, the frostfur child remained sullenly silent, inspecting the blades of grass underneath her father's paws.