Blackfeather Woods Someday your bird is going to fly.

It might have been the clearest, crispest words she'd heard from his mouth in all the time she had known Mou, and she turned to face him, face slightly taken aback. She stared for a while, finding something in his expression she couldn't quite read. It could be ours. Together.

It is ours, Maegi said firmly, a small smile blooming over her face. He was very close, and she pressed slightly against him, his presence a comfort in the woods that had grown slightly unfamiliar. It always will be ours. And we have Ramsay, and Flicker, and. . .

She trailed off, eyes drifting away. It's our home, she murmured. Maybe one day it'll be like how it was. And thus, Maegi completely and utterly missed any subtext to this conversation.