Galadan-River, shortly after Galadan-Gabriel

There are three places River spends most of her time nowadays: Serenity, the lake and forest of Milliways, and her father's hospital room.

Only one of them is free of grief and guilt and strain. Free except for what she might bring, of course. It's that one she's in now: curled on a rock set a few feet into the lake, damp bare feet tucked under her skirt. Her boots wait on the shore, haphazard and abandoned.