Heron Lake Plateau last night i had a dream that i was brushing a horse.

Hearing someone describe Bat as "spirited" elicited an involuntary chuckle from Wildfire. "When she lived in Drageda, before she ran away, she was quite the opposite," she explained, drawing in a steadying breath because the recollection wasn't painless. "I'm glad she found herself here." Even if that had been one of the darkest moments of her life, the days after it some of the most difficult. Her joy at finding Bat alive and well overshadowed that now.

"Sequoia, my niece, came with us too. She and Kiwi are close. Her mother, Portia, and I had a close relationship too." They hadn't seen much of one another lately, thought that was probably mostly Wildfire's fault. She'd withdrawn in the weeks, maybe even months, prior to her departure. "I've come to think of her as one of my own as well. She's a great kid. They all are." Including the ones I left behind, she thought, heart straying to them for a moment.

She still didn't want to bring down the room with all of that, so Wildfire drew another bracing breath and said, "So, Raven told me that Bat told you guys she had my permission to come here. That's not true, although I feel it's moot now. But Rave also mentioned that Tegan's been mentoring her?" He might have been party to her flight as well, though Wildfire found she couldn't hold it against him any more than she could Bat. She was actually glad he'd been there to take her wayward daughter under his wing.