i am a leaf on the wind

The smile that brightens Aly’s face helps easy any worries Lyanna might have. It makes her feel just a little more like she really does belong here. More like she’s found a new home, and not just a place to sleep at night. If she kept at it, maybe it really would be. Somehow though, that felt like she was replacing her old family. But of course she wasn’t. She could never replace them. Would never stop missing them. Would always, always belong in Morham first.

But they were gone and she couldn’t return to Morham. This wasn’t replacing. This was moving on – living. What else could she do but live?
 
She chuckles at the mention of Hemlock in the trees. She laughs louder as Hemlock puffs up his chest in pride at this, and offers the little owl a grin. “Oh, I bet. I probably wouldn’t be so bad except for the teal. It’s a pretty dead giveaway.” She laughs at bit more, ruffling one wing so the blue feathers flash slightly in the sunlight. Yea, dead giveaway.
 
“Of course,” she says, by way of a ‘you’re welcome’. It seems like the very least should could do for the mare that had, quite literally, brought Lyanna into her home. And then more figuratively, taken her under her wing as a healer. “I’m glad you’re practicing. It’s well worth it.” Perhaps one day they’d go flying – really flying – together. Lyanna was more alive in the sky than she ever was down here.
 
Aly’s smile fades a bit, and that familiar pang of worry hits Lyanna’s gut. She doesn’t show it, but her thoughts start churning anyway. Stop, she chides, before her brain runs a million miles ahead. Instead, she focuses on Aly’s words. They were words of thanks, for the few small things Lyanna had done. Nothing really came of their herb gathering trip, and her only successful recruit had already disappeared. Was trying enough? Because she didn’t feel like she’d succeeded much.
 
The next question, however, is one she’s almost afraid to answer. But she knows she needs to. “Yes,” she says, after a moment of hesitation, her smile less but her words honest. “I admit, I haven’t spent as much time in the Edge itself as I probably should have, getting to know everyone. But I’m working on that. And those I do know though are kind, and the land is lovely, and I hope to learn more about healing.” She doesn’t offer exactly why she hasn’t been around enough. The basics are probably obvious enough – she’s homesick. And she doesn’t need to drag this conversation down the path of why she left. 

watch how i soar.

lyanna