Frogspawn Swamp I worked hard all my lifetime

Hey, if memory serves, Towhee said, I was the one who told you there’s so much more to life than getting hitched—and having kids too, for that matter. You’ve been pretty consistent in your distaste for them, so I definitely respect your take. You know yourself best.

She took a moment to entertain herself with the mental images Ceridwen had painted of her postmortem. Maybe it was morbid to take pleasure in said imagery, though as Towhee grew older, she didn’t balk at the thought of dying. Everyone did it, right? She didn’t think she’d ever really feared it, though she’d resisted it just like any good warrior mother. She wasn’t ready to embrace it wholesale just yet, but how much longer did she want to stay on this spinning carousel, anyway?

Do you consider yourself close to anyone? Towhee found herself asking, apropos of nothing. I travel a lot too but I have ties seemingly everywhere I go. It sounds nice, in theory, not having so many strings attached. But do you ever get lonely?