You Are Family

Leigha was kind enough to lay out a bedroll for me so I could catch up on sleep, and I passed out almost immediately. I woke up feeling sore and overwhelmed. Before opening my eyes, I smelled Hikaru and reached over to embrace them, but they obviously weren’t there. When I groggily rose in the morning, Leigha was sitting in her arm chair drinking tea.

“It’s about time,” she said, as though she’d been waiting there for hours.

I rubbed my eyes and peeled myself up from the bedroll. “Sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well with everything that’s been going on.” I started to fold things up so as not to be a burden.

“Well there’s breakfast on the stovetop and hot water in the kettle if you’re keen. Quit fussing with that and come over here so we can finish our talk.” Listening to her speak was refreshing. She was very blunt, which I could appreciate.

I moved over to the wood burning stove and made myself some tea, “There’s more?”