for Lekalta and Inna
Her sister was always out, mostly likely out having adventure without her. Bracken was the typical younger sister and was tired of being left behind. No matter how early she woke up and closely she tried to tail her sister Ember always managed to seem to slip away undetected. It was no fair and, more to the point, no fun!
She pouted for a bit, but sourness was not an expression that did not stick well on the gray-smudged girl. If her sister could go out and find something to do, she reasoned, then why couldn't she? One late afternoon, once all the adults were busy, she pranced across the borders. She stared in every direction, trying to decide why way to go. Her mother had already told her about the forest with the bright red ferns and about the mountains with its dangerous wolves on the other side, so she struck out completely opposite them. And this way she could help her mother and father by telling them about what she found. It wasn't even breaking the rules when she thought of it that way!
She trotted blithely north, stopping to investigate every interesting thing she found. There were squirrels to bark at and rabbits to chase futilely after. It wasn't until the wind picked up that she lifted her head in time for a single drop to land on her nose. Bracken lifted a heavy paw to smear the water away and sat down to catch her breath. She wasn't worried about the weather quite yet, there was plenty more that might happen.