Stone Circle fortunate son

Sorry for the wait!

"Nikai is fine," was the first thing Alya said, shortly followed by, "It's good to see you, too." And she was surprised by how true those words were. She had always liked Valette, of course, but they hadn't spent a lot of time together. Still, she felt she knew the woman thought Nikai and the values she had instilled in him, and seeing her now -- so dark and green-eyed -- made her feel a swift and strong wave of emotion that she hadn't expected to feel.

"I'm sorry," she said abruptly, because aside from a sudden longing for her own mother, seeing Valette made her feel nothing but guilt. "I know we've been away for a long time -- but when we got to the mountain, my..." She couldn't quite put into words all that had happened. They had not just died. They had been violently taken from her in a cruel double-blow. She did not say this. "We found out that my mother and my father had died. So we stayed to help my sister take over, and she whelped shortly after, and there just hasn't been time..."

Her ears splayed back in discomfort as her emotions began to get the better of her. "I don't know when we're coming back," she went on in a soft, hollow voice. "My sisters..." but she could hardly look Valette in the eye talking about her sisters when she had taken her son away from her.