Rising Sun Valley A Stray Ember

"I am," she agreed, but she was just a little sad to think of her scattered children. They were surely having the time of their lives without her, and she wanted that for them! But it did leave her with an awful lot of time on her paws. The world was so quiet without them underfoot!

Perhaps it was natural, then, that her heartstrings should be so easily plucked by this perfect stranger. Perhaps it was simply that his heart seemed to sing the same notes.

"I know how that is," she replied, her voice very quiet. She watched his face intently as she spoke. "I was born not far from here. We had such a big family, and we loved each other very much." She braved a small smile. "Now I have my children, and some distant cousins I can call on if I need to. But it's not quite the same, is it?"

She had a feeling this man was not yet a father, but she thought it likely didn't take experience as a parent to know. She had felt so safe and careless back when her father was still around. That feeling had died with him, and now she lived with an aching dread below her breast — a feeling that had flared up as soon as she looked down at her childrens' faces and was struck by how small they were, and how vulnerable they were now that they were outside her body, free to do as they pleased if she did not keep them under her eyes.

"They call this place the Rising Sun Valley," she told him. "The greater area is the Teekon Wilds. I don't live here, exactly. Except I suppose I live wheresoever I stand, for the moment."