Liya looked out into the wintry courtyard. The grass had not totally lost its green, but it seemed dry and pale and cold, and the leaves had fallen off the vines that twined around the marble pillar just beyond the door.

"I guess," she said tonelessly. She just looked for a moment, and then said, "I'm gonna go see Yoshi."

Helly lifted a hand. "Liya--"

She turned to look at nem. Ne folded nir hands together, looking concerned.

"No one will replace your brothers, I know," ne said gently. "No one could ever do that. But there are still people here who care about you, and want to help you. I promise," ne added, as Liya merely looked at nem, somewhat disbelievingly.

The hallway past Helly's courtyard, the huge all-in-blue one, was empty. The massive white (blue, in the unlighted hallway) statues of long-jawed smiling dogs towered over Liya as she walked. Her mind was elsewhere besides the dim cavernous palace, thinking of the figure of Hawk standing against an entirely different kind of blue sky--livid, sunny, cloudless.

It was some years prior; he was skinnier, his hair shorter on the sides, his wings still mostly pinfeathers and not so large. He stood with his arm shielding his eyes from the sun, looking up, saying calmly, "They're shootin' people. I think that's what the crows're sayin'. Up at the front of the line."