Sun Mote Copse As if some magic, like a staff found a burning bush

Auburn was glad she was lying down, for even in that position, she felt herself swaying a little. It was as if, now that she'd found shelter, her body had given out. She had survived long enough to find this place, and now she had no more fight or flight left in her. What's a... bourie? she asked, shaking her head a little and wondering if she'd misheard. She glanced up at the sky, green eyes finding more glittering golden dust motes, and thought the name of the place--Sun Mote Copse--was fitting.

At Meerkat's question, she glanced at her uncomfortably, then looked away again. This time, the concern on the woman's face was plain as day, and she didn't know what to do with such emotion. That's a... long story, she said. She didn't want to talk about her family, such as they were. Her parents who had ignored her existence for her entire life, her mother who had pushed her from her teat if she was in the way of one of her siblings, or her siblings who had pushed her away themselves. She didn't want to talk about trailing behind, ever behind, how it had taken her longer to learn to walk, to talk.

The dust is pretty, she said, deflecting, staring up at the sky again, watching it flicker lazily across the blue, disappear into the trees.