Whitefish River I had long forgotten I belonged to you

Of course she had more ideas. Dragomir had never doubted her. Aurëwen saw Isilmë as her little free bird, forever untamed, and Vercingetorix saw her as his wild warrior child, but Dragomir saw her differently. She was a beacon of light in a darkness that sometimes threatened to swallow them both. To him, she was unflappably upbeat and always present. She had her outbursts at their parents just as he did, but it never shook his high opinion of her. He hadn't doubted for a second that she would come up with more stories.

Okay, so it was a little confusing to follow. He could have swore the character's name was supposed to be Rock, but once or twice she called him Tree or Branch or something. It took him a little while to figure out who she was talking about. And okay, somewhere in there Dirt disappeared completely. But when she finished her story, his eyes glowed with appreciation and his lips pulled into a warm smile, one of few he had issued since his abduction, and he quietly said, you could be really good at this, Isi, you really could.

Perhaps that was simply a testament to how bad Dragomir would be if he tried to tell stories, for what he said was meant sincerely, and not just as a kindness to his sister. Neither of them would amount to Aurë's ability to spin whimsical and fantastical stories ... but she had more of a chance at it than he did. He craved more stories and ways to escape his current situation, but instead the boy lifted his head and asked, what's it like out there? with a pointed look to the edge of the glade. He hadn't seen anything of Kaistleoki yet, but he hoped she could fill him in.