Sun Mote Copse What a fool believes

For @Niamh!

It was early evening, the stars just starting to twinkle against the slowly darkening sky. It was the sort of night that was perfect for astrology, which was exactly what Phox planned on doing. He'd left the trio (Towhee, Figment, and Fennec) back at the rendezvous site and traveled to a clearing that was free of overhead branches. One-by-one, he picked out the constellations he'd memorized so long ago, reciting their stories in his head so that they wouldn't be lost to time. Each story he had been taught while he was younger, between the time at the caldera and the plateau. It seemed a lifetime since all that had happened.

He was reminded of Nellie, and how he probably wouldn't have wanted anybody to know where he was when he'd run away. Phox's reasons had been different, and his return had not been exactly warm and welcoming. Still, he respected her for the young lady she was. She wasn't that much younger than Figment and Fennec, and those two were practically adults now. Crazy to think about.

The Redhawk let his mind drift this way and that, all while craning his neck up to the night sky above.