Sun Mote Copse worry never dies

Nearly as unexpected as Eljay's anger was the sudden rush of empathy Towhee felt toward him as she watched her fellow parent struggle. She knew exactly how he felt. She'd lost both her children in turn. She knew the grief and misery of it, the wondering and worrying and lack of closure. It was all torturous. And they were hardly the only ones—his mother, her godmother, knew this a dozen times over, it seemed—but, for the first time in their mutual history, Towhee felt singularly connected to her elder brother in this.

"It's a fucking crap shoot," Towhee repeated in a murmur, bobbing her head and letting out a breath as she moved closer to him. She didn't quite touch him, though her eyes lingered on his face. "All of it, I mean. That said..." She glanced sideways, pondering, then her eyes flicked back to Eljay, assessing him like she had when she'd first approached. "If you ever wanted to go looking, I would go with you. But you're in no shape to travel right now." Now her expression hardened a little as she delivered tough love, emphasis on the tough. "You need to look after yourself, Eljay, for both your kids. If you want to be around for them, there for them, you need to take better care of yourself and stay strong."