Page 104 of Storm of Stars
I snorted. “Dangerous duo,” I muttered, just as Thorne dropped down beside me and Fenly promptly shifted into his lap like she belonged there, which, of course, she did.
Thorne wrapped his arms around her with practiced ease. His beard was fuller now, his strong build more weathered, but his presence, steady, grounding, and full of humor, was exactly the same. He wore time like he wore everything, with ease. Fenly curled into him like he was her personal fortress.
A soft hand settled on my shoulder and I turned to find Briar sinking down on my other side. She pressed her cheek against mine, her breath warm as she sighed. Her once dark brown hair was now streaked with glints of silver, and her eyes, still that endless brown, held decades of love in their depths. She was radiant in the way that only someone loved and loving can be. And somehow, I found myself more in love with them all now than I was even yesterday.
“Hey, Ma?” Fenly asked from Thorne’s arms.
“Yeah, sweetie?” Briar responded, her voice low and melodic.
“Can you sing to us?”
I turned and smiled at her, my heart swelling. Thanks to Briar, music was as much a part of our home as laughter or breath. Our children had grown up in a house filled with melodies, songs at sunrise, lullabies at dusk. Just as Briar’s father had sung to her, she now sang to them, passing that legacy on like a thread of light through all our lives.
Briar nodded and began to hum, the first few notes delicate and familiar. The kids leaned into us, and for a moment, therewas only the music, the wind, and the feeling of family stitched together by time, memory, and love.
“I walk the path where the wild things grow,
Where the pine trees whisper and the rivers flow,
With each step, I feel the earth ‘neath my feet,
In the woods, I find my heart's steady beat.”
Briar’s voice wrapped around us like sunlight filtered through leaves. That soft, familiar melody stirred something in my chest, the same way it had that night in the Wilds. The night she found me when I was bleeding and scared, and she sang this song as if it could hold us together. Maybe it had. Maybe it still did.
“In the woods I am, and the woods are me,
A part of the leaves and the sky so free.
The wind in my hair, the sun on my skin,
In the woods I’m where wild things begin.”
I joined in, my voice instinctively finding hers. Years of ‘singing lessons’ with her, of harmonizing in kitchens and fields and bedrooms, of lullabies hummed in the quiet hush of bedtime, it had carved a rhythm into us. One that still beat strong.
Fenly's voice came next. Clear, innocent, and achingly sweet. She sang with her whole heart. I looked at her and saw everything we’d fought for, everything we nearly lost. Her brown eyes sparkled with the same fierce light I saw in myself. That same softness that came from strength.
“No walls to bind me, no roads to pave,
Just ancient roots and a soul to save.”
Fenly nestled herself between Thorne’s arms as she sang. He held her like she was made of something precious. He looked at her the way he used to look at me after a trial. With awe, and a little disbelief that we were still standing. He was the one who reminded me that joy was just as strong as armor. That hopewasn’t naive, it was necessary. He taught me to laugh, when I wanted to cry.
“I dance with the shadows, I sing with the rain,
In the woods, I’m free from sorrow and pain.”
I looked at Briar then, her voice still rising and falling like waves. Her hair had streaks of white now, her freckles deeper from years under open skies. And still, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Every line on her face held our story. Every laugh, every fight, every kiss that reminded us that we had survived. She saved me when I didn’t think I was worth saving. She taught me to fight for myself, not just for others.
“So let the world turn, let the seasons fly,
I’ll stay where the mountains kiss the sky.”
Ezra stepped closer, Jaxson bouncing in his arms, giggling as Ezra spun him gently. His salt-and-pepper hair was tousled, his posture still strong. He taught me that we were more than the labels placed on us. That I didn’t have to be perfect to be loved. That who we were becoming was just as important as who we’d been.
For I walk the path where wild things grow,
And in the woods, I’ve found my soul.”
