Heron Lake Plateau Cast aside for new and more

The weight of all they had done seemed to have caught up to her--not only the hurt she felt over how angry her children were at them for making the decision to move, but the stress of moving, the overwhelming elation of finding Wisteria again, the guilt over the lost friendship between Rannoch and Terance, the pain over losing Wildfire and the heartache for all her family was going through--all of it find its way out of her now. There was simply too much to feel, and she had tried too hard to keep all of it at bay for too long. It was like a mountain crashing down on her, but one that had needed to fall for some time now.

It took a few moments for the heavy sobs to subside before Liffey found her voice again. When she did, she tried to come up with some answer for the question Gannet had asked. It had been a simple one, but it felt so monumentally complicated and difficult. Still, she tried, for him. "Because we made them leave the Hollow," she managed to say before her voice hitched again and she had to pause before going on, "They're all upset over having to leave, even my older two. They are upset over the friends they made that they left behind. I thought they would be happy, or at least content, knowing that we were moving to be with family and they'd have cousins their own ages to befriend and play with. But they're barely even speaking to me."

Liffey shook her head as another heavy wave threatened to rise up. "I'm.. I'm the worst mother..." she managed to say before it fell.