The Heartwood I know that I ended it,

Leonore had left the Teekons wrapped in a heavy blanket of grief, but returned with a new hardened layer in it's place. She felt herself growing into the woman she thought herself to be months be after leaving her home by the creek; maybe it was because she finally had the chance to be truly alone, to force herself to hone the skills she needed.

She couldn't return to the coast. She wouldn't dare to see what had become of Marina and her litter, to speak to her auntie Sobeille and risk being shunned. Leonore had abandoned them, and she felt little guilt for it, but nothing would sting more than if either woman were to reject her.

Leonore had done what was best for her, what was necessary to grow. She needed to leave her family behind entirely, she could not sit and wait for Sapphique, she could not continue to pretend that Marina was her mother. Whispers had passed on the wind telling her that the creek had been abandoned, so she would not dare to return there either.

Entering a forest of saplings and young trees, she felt a strange sense of kinship. She too, was experiencing new growth.