Sun Mote Copse You were the brightest shade of sun when I saw you

In this open woodland where light always shone through the broken canopy, there were few places to hide. One she-wolf rested alone in the shade of a large oak, her dark pelt blending with the forest floor. Even now, some habits refused to die.

The golden mother had accepted her, but Merel knew she was not one of them. What was left of her home was buried under cold stone and ash. Her family had either returned to the earth themselves, or were lost like her. In her heart, she knew she was not the Merel that had played in long, swaying grasses and splashed through brooks. That woman was dead.

Yet when Waawaashkeshi’s voice filled the warming air, it pulled on the pieces of her that remained. For a moment they aligned in her mind like fragments of stained glass.

The Blackbird lifted her head and joined the Summerwalkers in song.