Emberflame Ridge there's no turning back now

If she had known what was going through his head she would've felt guiltier than she did. As a scout she'd learned to commit faces and names to memory, and yet most of the children from her early life had blended together - except Eleuthera. Remembering the soft rose of her coat and the affection Ibis had felt for the girl (even when they often argued their childish points to one another) made Ibis' chest ache but her belly flourish with the fluttering sensation of her old crush. No, she didn't remember the round-bodied brother; he must have been one of the quiet kids, overshadowed during Ibis' early development.

Elysium's gone, the boy mentioned. He sounded pained, and that pain was something she knew well. Ibis sighed so deeply it was like her soul was leaking out of her. Yes, I.. I know. A lot has happened. She commented without realizing how ominous it sounded; but she scooted closer after a second or two, eager to embrace her sibling even if he was estranged and now unknown to her. She carefully nudged at his burly shoulder with her tiny snout, as she might if it were Okeanos, and felt a little strange in doing so.

You.. You left, didn't you? With Eleuthera. I remember that she was home with us one day, then gone. It had been a plan of some kind, she thought. Olive might have had some plan in place for the kids to return after some time abroad, but Ibis couldn't be sure. She remembered feeling intimately jealous and deeply disappointed at the vanishing of the sister. As for Elysium, there was some kind of accident months ago. From what I heard of it, Lily -- if you remember her -- well, Lily died. And then when autumn came so did the quakes, so... Things fell apart from what I can tell.

The way she spoke of it, it hurt, but there was still hope trailing beneath her words. Ibis had no idea just what horrors awaited her among the willows - the bodies that Seamus had found.