More than wanting the love, she wanted the friendship. In all her years she’d never had a friend, not one that would hold a place within her heart for all her years, not one like Juno and Niviaq had been. They’d been so close, and it had been their friendship that made her believe that things were real, the soul-sisters, the true love. All the stories, all the things she’d seen in her years. She needed that, for some reason. Her heart ached, missing Juno, Hera, all of them. They’d been her family, although they didn’t share blood. Family of the heart, she called them. Remembering them hurt, everything hurt, to be honest. She’d come to the conclusion that she would probably wither away alone, and no one would miss her.

Her thoughts were broken by his voice, listening to him as he spoke of Asteraia, the new king Halcyon, and Panzer’s own story. She thought for a moment, after his question. Memories of Litherum. The sea-borne pack. She remembered playing at the waters edge, listening to Juno and Niviaq talking above her. The memories hit her like a brick, feeling her heart trip and stumble as she tried to gather herself enough to reply to him. “I was born in Astra Clearing, before the meteor, and raised for a few years in Litherum. When it was safe to venture after the blast, I went to Spirane, albeit hiding in the shadows, as that’s where my Adopted mom’s best friend went.” She paused, wondering just how much she was telling him.

A sigh slipped from her lips, her eyes gazing back out across the water. The clearing would have been around the same area the valley is now, which wasn’t all that far from them, to be honest. It was one place she would visit, but only rarely, unsure if she could handle the memories anymore. Hence why she hadn’t been back to Spirane in years. She wondered absently if Niviaq was still around. “Although now, the freelands are my home.” She almost forgot that part. See, she’d been getting sucked into the memories and she was forgetting where she was.