Days. It had been days since she had last seen her daughter, Titania. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, but the mother was terrified that something was different now. Why was this happening now? Things were supposed to be getting better, not worse! This winter had already been much kinder than the last on the artistic – turned - mercantile pack. There were no weird-o’s lurking around and the little snow flurries had been gentle thus far. No one was losing pups, no one was sick… and most of all, she and Shawchert were going to be wed. She should be a happy, blushing bride to be, not a worried mother.
Of course, Orin wasn’t so much upset for herself as she was worried for her daughter. There had been episodes now with both Titania and Juliet disappearing from the pack lands. Luckily, Juliet didn’t show any wish to leave, but Titania… she had been a different story. Her anger was so strange, she was so upset at how they tried to protect her, and Orin feared she would never get over the punishment she had received for disappearing from the pack for that week. Now she was going on about some man she had met. Sometimes she would be open about him, and other times she would clam up.
“What have we done?” Orin muttered mournfully to herself as she walked through the woods. “Did we chase our own daughter away?” Her misty eyes lifted from the path as she entered Thornbury, but she didn’t know where to go from there. She looked around aimlessly, and then began walking down the street.
“Did you leave or did something happen?” she wondered aloud, her grief making her not care if she looked crazy. “I doubt anything happened… there was no evidence… but we know you were at the border tree. Where did you go from there, my daughter?’ She stopped and looked up at the cloudy sky. “Will you ever come back to me?”
“Yeh can’t choose destiny…” A faint, wobbly voice made Orin turn, and she saw the old woman sitting on the porch of the sewing store. She was devout with her work, staring at her knitting as though she had said nothing.
“ Excuse me?” She asked, but the woman didn’t acknowledge her. “Did you say something?” She took a few steps toward Esther, but the woman still didn’t look at her. “Crazy old bat…” She turned and began to walk away, and the voice came again…
“When you choose to accept it, you will have your daughter back.”
Orin whipped around again but the old, crippled woman was gone, leaving her standing on the Thornbury street slack jawed and astonished.
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