Sun Mote Copse Let this moment be the first chapter: where you decide to stay

She really needed to hear that. She was just so darn happy Niamh accepted her now, even if she had been gone for moons. Never again would she leave without saying a word. Though she wanted to say it a hundred more times or so, no longer did she utter the phrase "I'm sorry" and gently wept into her mother's fur. Her ears pricked hearing her mother was sorry too... for what? She hadn't done anything wrong, neither had Bronco. She wanted to see him too, but brothers were almost meant to not care much for their sisters until it really mattered. Was this such a time?

She nodded frantically. Of course I'm stayin'! She sobbed. I-I didn't come all this way just to leave again, I promise! She closed the distance her mother had created with a nuzzle. I... I was with the Frosthawks... I told everyone not to tell you 'cause you'd come get me and I wasn't ready. She was surprised everyone had kept their promise to her... Would she need to thank them for it? ...I am now, though. She smiled then and her sobbing had ceased.