Sun Mote Copse vacation's all I ever wanted

I was so young, Meerkat agreed. My older brother went with me but, looking back, I can see why my mother was so upset at the time. It was hard letting Mercy go, then losing Fish, then seeing Ray off… I always told myself to raise them to leave but it was still so difficult, which of course Njord knew just as well.

She had to think for a moment, reaching back in time to sift through various memories. Meerkat remembered a flood, though she could’ve sworn that happened in the spring or summer, not in the fall. Perhaps she could ask her mother once they returned, though for now, she gave it her best guess.

Well, she went back to the caldera, where she was born.

Exchanging a glance with her mate, Meerkat began striding forward into the copse. Would she be able to find the log she had shared with Towhee those first weeks of her life? Or had it rotted away by now? Would she recognize other landmarks around the copse? She vaguely remembered a den beneath the gnarled roots of a tree. And wasn’t there a graveyard somewhere near the river?

It’s as beautiful as I remember it, Meerkat murmured as she took it all in for the first time in nearly three years.

She found her way to the rendezvous site where she had spent her youth. Meerkat slowed to a stop, eyes shifting around the clearing. They landed on an overgrown shrub and a memory rushed back to her. She would never forget Towhee’s take on sexual education, nor Bronco’s visceral reaction and her own turning stomach. It had been so upsetting at the time! Now, the recollection made her tip her head back and laugh loudly.