Brandywine

A laid-back and fun-loving sort, as her name might suggest. She enjoys lounging by the river and watching fish swim lazily by, or trying to catch them in her jaws, with limited success--but it don't bother her none if one slips through her teeth.

If you were to ask her whether she really believes all Mirzam's talk about the Heart of All and the age of reckoning to come, she'd ponder it a while and say there's no reason why not. Seems like nowadays things just ain't like they use to be. Folks don't help their neighbors anymore. And everything's connected, like he says, even more than you'd ever think. Way down to the sand on the bank and the fish in the stream; all comes back round to the bones you gnaw.

Then she'd tell you about one time she killed a big fat possum back when she was a pup, and talked it up so that all the other kids were nipping ears to get the first bite it, but damn if they weren't all curled up together in the den by sundown, watching the lightning bugs flicker. That's the kind of world it should be, she'd say, and scratch a spot on her ear. Might not be a lick of truth in all that Heart nonsense but at least she's got a good home here. Somewhere to watch the fireflies.