Enera  knew she was a bad sister. She was just as bad a sister as she was a friend - why else would Marrah have left? For all that she'd said, and that she'd at least called her out to say goodbye, the eldest Rayvne girl couldn't help but feel she was the real reason @Marrah had abandoned them. And that's what it felt like - abandonment. She couldn't go with her, and her sister-friend knew that. Enera felt so alone. Both Woya and @Adelard were so busy with their new children they didn't have time for the only remaining yearling... and Enera was so busy caring for her sisters she hadn't spent much time with them.

That was about to change. Enera was determined they grew up hearing the same stories their mama had told her, so they knew their history and where they came from. Knew as much as the eldest did, anyway.

She trotted toward the den. "Adonya, Sovanya, I have something special for you," she called as she approached. "Do you want to hear one of the stories our mama told me? I've been saving it for when you're big enough." They were certainly old enough to hear about the skywalkers now; they were getting to be nearly as big as she was. When had that happened? Is this what their mama had felt like, watching Enera grow up?

It seemed her younger sisters weren't as asleep as she thought they might be, given Addy had started a tussle with her twin. Upon her approach they both sat up and Adonya was quick to decline. Enera's ears flicked back. She didn't understand why her sister seemed to dislike her so much. She was constantly picking on her foster siblings and turning Enera's own advances towards a relationship away. Was she angry her older sister had spent more time transporting water than with them? It was certainly one of her regrets, but...

Sova's voice broke Enera out of her distressed internal rambling as she stepped forward and nudged her cheek. The older Rayvne girl smiled and touched her nose to the top of her sister's head. "It's a special story," she said, "one Mama waited to tell me too. It's about her family, and about the Sky Walkers." She settled down and gestured for her sisters to lay with her, should they want to, before turning her gaze to the sky - to the stars Mama had said were her grandparents - and where Enera liked to think her mama was too.

"Mama used to be the princess of a pack, far away and long before she came here," she began, "but not everyone liked the way our grandparents ruled."

At least Sova seemed interested, and even Adonya settled in to listen, if a bit begrudgingly. Enera smiled encouragingly and shifted to make herself more comfortable as she told her mama's story, absently placing a kiss to the crown of each girl's head. Maybe they were a bit older than she had been when mama told her this story, but that was okay. They were hearing it now.

"Grandma and Grandpa preferred peace, trying to avoid fights and be friends with their neighbors. They ruled their lands with justice, and some of their pack thought it made them weak. When our mama was still young, her parent's friends turned on them." Here she lowered her voice a little, trying bring in the right mood. "They attack them out of nowhere and our grandparents were killed. They tried to kill mama, too, but she managed to escape. Our uncles and aunts might have too, but mama didn't ever know for sure."

Enera glanced up to the sky, finding her stars. She hoped her mama liked the way she was telling the story.

Enera was aware of her sisters' awe and Sova's uncomfortable shifting. It was why she'd rushed through the scary bit, and why she'd waited until they were this age to tell the story most crucial to her own childhood. She looked down at the twins and smiled softly, trying to mimic their mama's own comforting expression. How cruel, that they'd never gotten to see her themselves. "Don't worry," she said gently, kissing each girl on the crown. "Mama made it here, and our grandparents are still watching over us. You see those stars, right over there?" she pointed out the ones their mama had shown her on a night very much like this one. "Those are grandma and grandpa, and that third one in the middle is our mama. They joined the Skywalkers. They get to adventure in new places and can see us and take care of us as they can from afar."

It was one of her few comforts, that her mama was still with her in a way... just further.