Rising Sun Valley A Stray Ember

She let out a soft breath when Sumac seemed enthusiastic. Something settled beneath her breastbone — she got the feeling she'd just done something she was always meant to do, like a puzzle piece sliding smoothly into place. And Sumac, too, seemed to relax a little. Or perk up, rather.

The silence between them was companionable; Easy got the feeling they were both enjoying the peaceful dawn as well as the comforting weight of companionship. When he broke it, however, she was happy enough to answer.

"Impish," she decided after a long hum of thought. "There are four of them. The youngest two are troublemakers — Mirza and Arya. They'll be a yearlings next month. Right now, they're visiting their aunt and their cousins in the land of long nights. Then there's my firstborn, Arjun. He's a man, now — he and Valiant both are about your age. He's adventurous and creative and very, very kind. And the oldest is Valiant. They travel together. Valiant is..."

The blackbear's ears splayed.

"He's quiet. Serious, a lot of the time," she said, speaking a little more slowly as she felt out the impression she wanted to give. "Which makes it hard to tell when he's making a joke, because he's very dry-witted a lot of the time. It's hard to know when he wants to share a laugh or when he's just feeling melancholy. He'll never say whether you got it right or wrong."

She cast a careful look in Sumac's direction.

"Will you tell me about your family?" she asked.