Wild Berry Meadow it takes the shape of a place out west

It wasn't weepiness, per se, but a thread of anxiety that could easily turn to weeping once she found herself alone. In that moment, she felt more liable to clam up — and that would be embarrassing. So she forced herself to respond:

"Nasty!?"

It wasn't much of a response. The word shocked her — no one had ever called her nasty! Because she! was never! nasty! She felt a brief moment of out of body horror and fascination. What was she doing? Why was she being nasty?

And then he brought Raindrop into things.

"You leave my mother out of this!" she snarled, suddenly incensed. She was just — flustered all over, and out of her depth, and her father was still gone and her mother had a suitor whether she knew it or not and there was NO MAN ALIVE IN THE WORLD THAT SHE COULD DATE EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE.

Life was so unfair.