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

"Come! Come to the dawn of song

Where all rejoice of these things small;

So long as blades of grass still reach for sun,

We too shall dance in epochs of sunrise."

All of them. All of these Summerwalkers, finding new families in a hearth of life-singers. A'yan could not help but find herself filled to the brim with joy. Who had known that the light of a teeming copse would bring together so many Summerwalkers?

The grass swished in melodious harmony; the trees carried tunes of ancient and the stories of now; the clouds laid upon them a blessing of distant songs. She thought of Halfshatter now - the babbling creeks away in the past, the laughter of children in a kind corner of the world...

...and realized she had truly found that raw joy again.

It was A'yan of the present, not Wood-Eye of Halfshatter, who raised her head to the watching sky and howled.