Laughter floated out of the room and down the stairwell as Bird Alyn and Shadow Jack, unknowing and unconcerned, put the past behind them forever.
Rusty settled onto his shoulders, purring in soft harmony with the memory of song:
Sharing brings us help for pain,
For nothing’s easy, oh my child.
He saw the faces of his other children, who he hoped would live to see the better world that had cost so much and been so long in coming. “Rusty,” he said quietly, “it’s about time.”