12-06-2007, 05:00 PM
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His daughter’s question pained him a bit. He had anted to think of himself as Ember’s brother, but in the end all that he’d been was a faker, a pretender. He failed to protect her and make her happy, but then, so had her real brothers. Most likely her last thoughts had been of her family. Had she counted him in that group? When she was younger she had once said she did, but he hadn’t lived up to that honor, had he? Phoenix knew what young siblings were supposed to do—play with each other, keep each other warm at night, annoy each other and tell on them to their parents if they did something naughty. But adult siblings? Phoenix didn’t have a clue back then. Still, he knew the answer to that question easily. Ember had often talked about her real family with him, wishing they’d come home. They’d left a void in her life that try as he did he could not have filled. “A couple brothers, one was a’ready grown up an’ moved to another pack. She never told me what his name was though. An’ she had a littermate named Aiden… but he ran away when their parents died, then came back just ‘fore she died. But he left again right after.” He was surprised by how many memories this drudged up for him. Phoenix had expected this to be a solemn duty, yes, but long ago he’d thought he was over his guilt. Turns out he had just hidden it away, and now he was uncovering it again. |