Thistle

[crittersheep]

[You're in your barn! That doesn't seem so bad--oh, oh wait, you're in the air.

Your barn, and honestly some of your stuff, is just floating on clouds. You can walk on the clouds too if you want, no one's stopping you. You will not, however, be able to return to the ground, far, far below you, no matter what you do.

At least not til the Ritual is complete.

Floating among everything else is your priest, who seems to have fallen into a deep sleep, and the barn's crystal flower.

After a moment, you hear voices resonating from the crystal flower--the holy beasts, their voices and minds melded as one, call out to you.

It asks your Flock 3 simple questions.]

Comments

[leonheartedly]

Let's.

. . . do you know your answer for the last one?

[survivaltricks]

I do.

[he answers without hesitation]

. . . what do you think my answer is?

[leonheartedly]

[immediately, because he doesn't have to think about it]

No one gets left behind.

[survivaltricks]

[a tiny little smile]

Never.

. . . not on my watch.

[leonheartedly]

Good. That's how it should be.

[survivaltricks]

[spreads his arms wide]

. . . do you know what promise I made to Thistle when I first arrived? When I first realized I was meant to be their Shepherd?

[leonheartedly]

[he shakes his head]

I don't think you ever told me.

[survivaltricks]

[quietly, but firmly]

I promised them. . . I'd give them a place to belong.

[a group of wounded kids with no place to belong, no home to call their own, shoulders burdened with the harshness of reality and life. . . that's what Thistle was when Lupin first arrived]

I hope I've managed to keep that promise.

[leonheartedly]

—ah, that promise. You told me that when you made me vice-shepherd. That it was important that they all knew.