The Last Day of Spring

	Deirdre woke up when the wagon finally rocked to a halt.  It was morning now, she could tell by the smell of the air and the sound of birdsong, even though it was all muffled by all the blankets over her head.  She scrambled up through the weight of her cocoon and made for the back of the wagon.  She stopped when her sister's hand gripped her tail.
	“You know what Mom said about sneaking out,” Maura said.
	“I'm not gonna stay in the wagon.  Mom and Dad are gonna be at the market all day,” Deirdre said.
	“Don't argue, not today.  If you get lost again, Mom will skin us both,” Maura said.
	Deirdre turned and slapped at her sister's hand.  The wagon was hot and it smelled of unwashed blankets and onions from the scraps of fabric they'd used to patch holes in the canopy.  Mom and Dad kept saying they'd clean it up one day, but they never did.
	“I'll be back before they are.  They'll never know,” Deirdre said.
	“Yeah, right.  I know you, Alex.  You'll find something interesting to distract you and it'll be last month all over again, a midnight search through who knows what kind of muck and wilderness,” Maura said.
	Maura made another grab for Deirdre's tail, but Deirdre scrambled over the tailgate and out into the sunshine.
	“Alex, you get your butt back here,” Maura said.
	Deirdre laid her ears flat and ignored her sister.  Maura knew how much she hated to be called by her middle name.  Alexandra was bad enough, but Alex was unforgivable.  Besides, Maura had been getting on her nerves a lot lately.  Just because Deirdre was only ten and Maura was thirteen she thought that gave her the right to boss Deirdre around.
	While Maura called for her, Deirdre crept around the side of the wagon to look at Oseille.  The city was a strange one.  There was no proper wall around it, just a low iron fence anyone could climb over and the buildings all looked like they were half buried under the ground.  It smelled strongly of rabbits, too.  Deirdre was very curious about rabbits.  She knew that, as a fox, she wasn't supposed to like them and they certainly didn't seem to care much for her Mom and Dad.  The few she had met had treated her kindly, though, and none of them had ever told her 'no'.
	“There you are, Sunbeam,” Dad said.
	He jumped down from his seat on the wagon and scooped her up in his arms.  Deirdre yelped and squirmed, but Dad held her tight.
	“I thought you'd gone already,” Deirdre said.
	“Your mother wanted to wait until you were awake.  You know why, don't you?” Dad said.
	“I wanna go see the rabbits,” Deirdre said.
	“That's exactly it.  If it were up to me, I'd take you along.  It's never too early for you to start to learn how to deal with other species.  But you know how your mother is,” Dad said.
	“And how is that, Feargus my dear?”
	Mom emerged from the other side of the wagon with Maura in tow, and she folded her arms and gave Feargus a mock glare over the rims of her glasses.  Deirdre stopped struggling and let Dad cradle her in his arms.  Emer was a small vixen with pale yellow fur, just as Deidre was growing up to be, but there was no doubt she was in charge of the family.  Deirdre could sometime argue with her father, but her mother's word was law.
	“You're absolutely lovely.  And absolutely right,” Feargus said.
	He put Deirdre down and kissed the top of her head.
	“We'll be back by supper, girls.  Be good and we'll bring you both back a little something as a present,” he said.
	Maura took Deirdre's hand and nodded for both of them.
	“Keep an eye out for bandits.  This is supposed to be neutral territory, but you never know,” Emer said.
	She kissed each of them the same way Feargus had and she gave Deirdre's hand a squeeze.
	“Don't sulk so.  You'll understand when you're older,” Emer said.
	Then she stood up and held out her hand for Feargus to take.
	“I hate going into Oseille.  They always give us such funny looks,” Feargus said.
	“They do that to everybody, though.  If rabbits have anything to recommend them, it's that they are indiscriminate in their mistrust,” Emer said.
	Maura held Deirdre's hand until their parents were out of sight.  Then Deirdre pulled away from her sister and ran back to the wagon.  In all the excitement, nobody had thought about breakfast and now she realized she was hungry.  She dug a bit of sausage and some bread from a bag hung just inside the wagon and sat down in the grass to eat.  Maura brought her a cup of cold tea and knelt beside her.
	“Don't you ever get bored?” Deirdre said.
	“Just let it go, will you?  I was sick all night and I don't want to have to chase after you,” Maura said.
	“You're just like Mom,” Deirdre said.
	They ate in silence while Deirdre watched people streaming in and out of the city.  When she was done, she flung the remains of her breakfast on the ground and climbed up on top of the wagon to watch the road.  They'd been to the City of Rabbits several times in the past, and the road here was always busy.  People came to buy and sell things that weren't available anywhere else on the island and it was the only place in Viridis where everyone, foxes, lynxes and rabbits, could all get along.  Most of them were merchants or wandering tinkers, like her parents.  They drove big wagons like the one Deirdre lived in, and they were boring.  Even the big horses that drew the wagons were dull.
	Sometimes, though, a little group of dark-cloaked figures on horseback would race down the road, dodging in and out between the wagons.  They always caused a stir wherever they went and Deirdre always watched them until they were out of sight and wondered where they went when they weren't around.  She'd never seen them hurt anyone, but sometimes her family passed abandoned wagons and then Dad lashed the horses into a gallop.
	“Looks like soldiers.  I can't tell what they are, at this distance, but it doesn't really matter.  Lynxes or foxes, they're always bad news,” Maura said.
	Deirdre kept her eyes on the vanishing riders and did her best to ignore her sister as Maura sat down on the seat beside her.
	“If any of them come this way, you get inside the wagon and stay there,” Maura said.
	“Yes, Mom,” Deirdre said.
	Maura grabbed her hair and gave it yank.  This earned her a smack when Mom saw her do it, so she'd learned to only pull Deirdre's hair when her parents weren't around.  Deirdre squealed and slapped at her, but Maura only pulled harder.
	“It's easy for you.  You're allowed to complain.  You're still just a kid, so you get to do whatever you please,” Maura said.
	“I can't do anything,” Deirdre said.
	Maura huffed and pushed her away.
	“You'll learn,” she said.
	Deirdre sulked and smoothed her hair where Maura had pulled at it.  She'd let it grow long, just down to her waist now, and it was a delicate shade of pale blonde that shone in the sunlight.  Maura could never get her hair to grow much past shoulder length and Deirdre knew she was jealous.
	“When I have kids, I'll let them do anything they like,” Maura said.
	“You would.  I'm never having any,” Deirdre said.
	Maura snorted and bumped Deirdre with her hip the way she always did when she wanted Deirdre to scoot over.
	“You never know what the future will bring.  That's what Dad always says,” Maura said.
	“That's just an excuse,” Deirdre said.
	Another group of soldiers rode by, so close this time that Deirdre could hear the hoof beats and the jingling of their harnesses.
	“I'm going to go on adventures and be someone,” Deirdre said.
	“Oh yes?  Deirdre Lohan, champion of the world?  You're a dreamer, Alex,” Maura said.
	“You'll see,” Deirdre said.
	Maura shook her head and retreated back inside the wagon, where she could huddle up in her bedroll and ruin her eyes with her books.  Deirdre sat and sulked while, all around her, people went off to have exciting adventures and do all sorts of things she could only dream about.  It wasn't fair.  Mom and Dad wouldn't let her out of sight of the wagon, but she was ten years old now and she was at least as smart as Maura, who was allowed to go off by herself but didn't.
	After a while, a stillness from inside the wagon told Deirdre that her sister had fallen asleep.  It wasn't a surprise.  Maura had been up half the night coughing and sneezing and she hadn't calmed down until Mom gave her a small glass of whiskey.  Maura got sick a lot, which Deirdre thought was strange because she couldn't remember ever feeling ill.  She wondered, sometimes, if that was why Maura picked on her so much.  Deirdre slipped down from her perch on the front of the wagon and crept around to the back.  She held her breath and tilted her ears back to listen for sounds of Maura waking up, but all she could hear were her sister's snores.  She climbed up on the tailgate long enough to make sure Maura wasn't faking, then she ran for the city.

	Oseille wasn't the biggest city in Viridis and it wasn't the most exciting, unless you liked talking to merchants.  Deirdre preferred Cearnach, the City of Foxes, with its soldiers and high stone walls covered in bright flags.  Still, she had learned to take her fun where she could find it and what Oseille lacked in excitement was more than made up for by all the things that could be bought in its Market, and all the different people who gathered there.  Besides rabbits and foxes there were a few wolves and even a handful of lynxes, who normally never came this far south.  Mom and Dad never went anywhere near the lynx city of Blackpool, so this was the only place where Deirdre got to see the cats up close.  They were shorter and stockier than foxes, and they all wore the same black and dark blue tunics and trousers with the same daggers at the hip.  As Deirdre entered the city, she met two of the cats coming the other way, and the taller of the two wrinkled his nose in disgust.
	“Rabbits must be mad, letting foxes wander in and out all day like this,” he said.
	“I don't see how they stand the smell,” his companion said.
	Her fur was so pale it was nearly white and she stank of whiskey, like Mom and Dad sometimes did when they came back from spending all day in the market.  She scowled when Deirdre leaned in and sniffed her.
	“I don't smell any difference,” Deirdre said.
	“Mind your manners, brat, or I'll give you the beating your mama should have given you,” the lynx said, but her friend burst out laughing.
	“This one is too smart for you, Lieutenant,” he said.
	“That's what she thinks.  If she were a little older--”
	“She'd be wearing a sword, and your mouth would have gotten us in trouble again.  You know what the Colonel said.  We're just here to keep watch, nothing else.  She's just a puppy,” he said.
	“Damn, but I hate all foxes,” the lieutenant said.	
	She swatted at Deirdre, who turned and darted into the crowd.  Mom would probably spank her, if it ever came out she'd spoken to a lynx, but Deirdre's heart was singing.  This was much more exciting than riding around in an old wagon all day.
	The Oseille Market took up almost a fourth of the city.  It was nothing grander than a wide open space, lightly fenced off from the rest of the city by a brightly painted iron fence.  The square was packed full of tents and stalls and even the carts of a few open air vendors, and all of them shouted their advertisements over the noise of the crowd.  Where there weren't stalls there were people, all of them crushed together and milling around as each of them tried to elbow past the others.  They all shouted, too, sometimes louder than the vendors, and nobody paid any attention to anyone but themselves.  The noise hurt Deirdre's ears and she had to cover them with her hands after a while just to bear it, but she stayed because she could smell cakes and bread all around her, and even sausage and fried fish from the river.  Her stomach growled and she dug in her pockets, hoping against hope that she had a few coins left.  There had been a time, not so long ago, when Mom and Dad made enough at Market to give her an allowance and she always saved it for the food she couldn't get anywhere else.  Unfortunately, all her pockets yielded today was a bit of fluff and disappointment.
	She yelped when someone touched her shoulder and she spun around, afraid it was one of the lynxes, or maybe Mom come to yell at her.  Instead, it was a young rabbit.  The stranger was about her age and, like most rabbits in Oseille, the girl was a rather ordinary brown color with splash of cream at her throat and black hair.  The rabbit gave her a quick smile and took a step backward.
	“Are you a fox?” the rabbit said.
	“What else would I be?” Deirdre said.
	“I thought all foxes were red,” the girl said.
	Deirdre huffed and tried out a scowl, like her mother sometimes gave her when she said something foolish.
	“I thought all rabbits were shy,” she said.
	“Why should I be?  You're too little to hurt me,” the girl said.
	“So you say.  You're just too skinny, that's all.  We only eat fat rabbits in my family,” Deirdre said.
	“It shows,” the rabbit said.
	Deirdre blushed and tried to cover it by laying her ears back against her head so the girl wouldn't see the color rising in them.  The rabbit just laughed and stuck out a hand.
	“I'm Bébinn.  My mother runs the town,” she said.
	Deirdre touched the tips of Bébinn's fingers, the way Dad had taught her to do when greeting someone new, and the girl grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the back of the market square.
	“Everyone's gonna be busy here the rest of the day.  Let's go do something more fun,” Bébinn said.
	Deirdre hesitated as they reached the back gate.  What she knew about Oseille was what everyone else did.  Anyone was welcome to come to the market, but only rabbits were allowed into the city itself.  They were very good at enforcing the rule, too.
	“We'll get into trouble,” Deirdre said.
	“No we won't.  It's okay if I invite you in.  We are allowed to have friends, you know,” Bébinn said.
	She opened the gate and yanked Deirdre through before Deirdre could object.
	Compared to the Market, the city of Oseille was neat and quiet.  The houses were small and private, and they really did go underground just like Mom had always said.  There were a few rabbits who had not gone to the Market with everyone else and a few of them gave Deirdre a queer sort of look, but none of them spoke or tried to stop her.
	“Did you get lost?  Or are you running away from home?  Mom hates that, you know.  She says it always end in tears, and then she gets blamed by angry parents,” Bébinn said.
	“I came with my Mom and Dad.  And my sister, but she's just a big pain in the butt,” Deirdre said.
	“Your parents are merchants?” Bébinn said.
	The girl laughed a little when Deirdre's ears drooped, and she waved a dismissive hand.
	“There's nothing wrong with that.  We wouldn't even be here without the Market, and they're usually more polite than the soldiers.  Mom only puts up with them because she has to,” Bébinn said.
	Bébinn pulled up short at the mouth of an alley that didn't look any different than any of the others, and she gave Deirdre a sly smile.
	“Come see what I've got,” she said.
	Bébinn turned and ran down the alley and Deirdre followed her.  She wasn't sure, yet, what to think of her new friend, but she didn't want to be alone in Oseille.  At the end of the lane was a wide open space that held a garden with neatly trimmed grass, bright flowers and a little stone path that led to a large, rounded house.  The house looked like all the others, except it was painted pale green with something that looked like silver filigree all around the door.  There was something odd about it, too, which Deirdre couldn't quite place at first.  Then she realized that, though the house was round like its neighbors, it was built entirely above the ground.
	“Nice, isn't it?  Mom says that there's no reason for us to hide in a hole, that rabbits should hold their heads up the same as everyone else,” Bébinn said.
	“It's beautiful,” Deirdre said.
	“I suppose so.  But Oseille can be so boring sometimes, too.  At least you get to travel, and see the rest of the island,” Bébinn said.
	“I don't get to see anything.  Just the wagon, and sometimes Mom and Dad will let us stay in tavern somewhere so we can have a bath with hot water.  I don't even have anyone to play with.  All Maura wants to do is read,” Deirdre said.
	“Come back with me,” Bébinn said.
	She ran toward the back of the house and Deirdre followed, one ear cocked toward the front door.  Bébinn had said her mother was important, and she couldn't imagine what a rabbit who lived in a house like this would think of a tinker's daughter.
	She forgot all about her worries when she saw the castle in Bébinn's back garden.  It was only a toy, with a keep that rose no higher than Deirdre's waist, but it was a perfect replica of the castle in the City of Foxes, down to the red and white banners and little toy foxes guarding the walls.  Tiny lynx figures surrounded the bottom of the walls and every one of them was armed with swords or bows, with little flags for the companies.  It was glorious, but a strange toy for a rabbit to have.  Bébinn must have noticed Deirdre's puzzlement because she gave another one of her strange smiles.
	“Dad gave it to me.  He said it was a gift from the fox Queen, in return for certain favors.  But he wouldn't tell me what he did,” she said.
	Deirdre picked one of the little foxes up off the castle.  The figure was dressed in a scrap of real leather for the armor and its mouth had been carved into an elegant snarl.  It also appeared to be the figure of a vixen.  Deirdre turned it over and over in her hands, admiring it, until Bébinn nudged her.
	“Wanna play?” Bébinn said.
	Bébinn let Deirdre take the foxes while she attacked the castle with her lynx toys.  Deirdre was sure that the little rabbit took it easy on her until she learned the rules of the game, then Bébinn launched a vicious all out attack against Deirdre's foxes that took her by surprise.  Deirdre managed to hold out for almost an hour before Bébinn's lynxes surrounded her keep, but there was never any question that the girl would win in the end.
	Deirdre sat back, still holding the little vixen figure which she'd picked for her champion, and she stared at her new friend.  Bébinn gave her a shy little smile and the girl twisted the tail of her shirt in her hands.
	“I wish you could stay.  Nobody else will play with me,” Bébinn said.
	“It's no wonder.  A rabbit shouldn't be able to think like that,” Deirdre said.
	“I don't see why not.  Dad says it's just a matter of learning to think like your enemy, and foxes have never bothered to hide their secrets from us,” Bébinn said.
	Deirdre stood up to stretch the kinks out of her legs, and she noticed how her shadow fell across the toy castle.  That meant it was well past noon and Deirdre's stomach cramped with sudden fear.  Her parents sometimes went back to the wagon for lunch, and even if they hadn't Maura had probably gone to tell on her by now.  She looked back at Bébinn, who was putting her toy foxes neatly back where they belonged.
	“I've got to go.  Now.  I'm gonna be in so much trouble if they've found out I left. Can you lead me back?” Deirdre said.
	Bébinn wasn't paying any attention to her.  Instead the girl's gaze was fixed on something just behind her.  When Deirdre turned around she saw a tall brown and white rabbit standing behind her, looking down at the two of them.  It wasn't difficult for her to guess who the newcomer was.  Bébinn's mother had more white fur than her daughter did and she had bright green eyes instead of Bébinn's brown, but there was no question that they were family.
	“Bébinn, what have I said about bringing strangers to the house?  Did you at least ask permission this time, or did you just drag her here like you've done with the last three?” the older rabbit said.
	Bébinn looked down at her feet and dug in the dirt with one toe.	
	“She was wandering around lost.  I thought she'd be safer here than in the Market with all those lynxes,” Bébinn said.
	“I see.  Well I happen to know there are a couple of foxes in the Market right now who look very much like your new friend, and who are looking for their daughter.  Did you even think about trying to find them?”
	“On a Market Day?  We'd have been trampled,” Bébinn said.
	Bébinn's mother knelt down in front of Deirdre and held out her hand.  In spite of her anger, she laughed a little when Deirdre backed away from her in an attempt to put Bébinn in between them.
	“You are welcome here as my daughter's guest any time you wish to come back.  Right now, though, it's time for you to go back to your family,” the rabbit said.
	Her smile faded a bit when Deirdre shook her head.
	“They'll be mad at me,” Deirdre said.
	“Maybe, but you still have to go.  Things could get very bad here and you'll be much safer with your family than you will be here,” the rabbit said.
	Deirdre took a hesitant half-step forward and when the rabbit put out her hand a second time, Deirdre took it.  Bébinn grabbed Deirdre's other hand and she looked up into her mother's glare.
	“What do you think you're doing?” the elder rabbit said.	
	“I brought her here, I should help take her home.  Isn't that the rule?” Bébinn said.
	“Not this time.  I've got enough to worry about as it is without having to fret about you, too.  You get inside the house and lock the door.  Nobody in this city is going to say Saoirse O'Malley can't protect her family,” Saoirse said.
	Bébinn sulked and grumbled until Saoirse gave her a quick swat on the rear.  Then the little rabbit ran inside and slammed the door.
	“You stay close to me and do what I tell you.  Foxes or lynxes are fine by themselves, but when they get together in the same place they're just plain bad news,” Saoirse said.
	Deirdre looked up at Saoirse in surprise.  Her mother had always said the same thing, but she'd never thought a rabbit could think like that.
	“I thought you hated all of us,” she said.
	Saoirse gave her a bright smile and squeezed her hand.
	“Leave home as soon as you can, child.  Travel and see the world.  You'll find that everyone is perfectly decent, under their skin, it's just when they get together in large groups that they get stupid,” Saoirse said.
	The old rabbit led her back to the market square by a more direct route than Bébinn had taken.  Deirdre could tell something was wrong before they even entered the square.  Compared to that morning the place was silent, and the few people who were left were clustered together in small groups from which they could glare at everyone else.  A slightly larger group of foxes had gathered by the inner gate and Deirdre saw her parents standing with them.  Her father saw her first and he ran across the square to scoop her up in his arms.
	“There you are, Sunbeam.  I told your mother you'd just wandered off, but nothing would do 'til we searched the whole city.  You'd better give her your best smile when she sees you, because she's scared to death,” he said.
	“I didn't.  I saw bandits, and came to find you.  But... I got lost,” Deirdre said.
	“My daughter found her and brought her home to play.  Please forgive us.  My Bébinn means well, but you know what kids are like.  They don't think about anyone but themselves,” Saoirse said.
	“Deirdre's just the same,” Emer said, as she joined them, and Feargus and Deirdre both flinched from the furious look she gave them.
	Nobody spoke for a long minute, while the adults stood around and looked embarrassed at each other.  Then Feargus gave Saoirse a smile and a small bow.
	“Thank you for bringing her home to us.  I hope she wasn't any trouble,” he said.
	“Children are never any trouble.  It's only adults who are a burden on others,” Saoirse said.
	A shout rang out across the square and a lynx broke free of one of the clusters of people near the front gate and ran straight for the nearest group of foxes.  The foxes turned, startled by the noise, and several of them drew swords.  The fighters parted as the lynx drew closer, and then they had him trapped in a circle before he could turn back.  The cat's battle cry turned into a scream, and Deirdre smelled blood.
	“Time for you to go, I think,” Saoirse said.
	Emer nodded, all traces of her earlier anger gone, and she lifted Deirdre out of Feargus's arms.  As she did, Deirdre was alarmed to feel how her mother was trembling.
	“Do you think we'll ever grow up?” Feargus said.
	“Maybe.  If we're lucky, and learn the right lessons from what's happening today,” Saorise said, and she looked right at Deirdre as she spoke.  Then she turned and hurried back through the inner gate, into the safety of Oseille.
	The whole square was moving now, and it seemed to Deirdre that suddenly everyone had a sword.  She laid her ears flat against the screams and battle cries and she buried her face against her mother's neck as Emer ran.

	Maura was on top of the wagon with the reins held tight in her hands when they arrived.  Emer vaulted up on the back of the wagon and she buried Deirdre under everyone's bedrolls.  Deirdre heard her father shout and the wagon lurched forward.  Deirdre wriggled out of the worst of the pile and crawled to the back of the wagon.  Oseille had already faded behind them, so all she could see was dust kicked up by their wheels and one last glimpse of the bright green and blue flags that flew over the city.  She began to relax, just a little, as the familiar sounds of the road came back again, but there was something slightly wrong with the cloud of dust that followed them.  She saw the dim shapes of riders, drawing closer.
	Outside, her father shouted and her sister screamed.  Something heavy hit the wagon to make it rock on its springs and Deirdre heard the splintering of wood as Emer grabbed her tail and pulled her backward.
	“I told your father it was a mistake to go to Oseille today.  I told him there were too many damned lynxes around,” Emer said.
	Something hit the wagon again and Deirdre felt it lurch and slip across the road.  Horses screamed and then the wagon turned over.  Deirdre slipped out of her mother's grasp and banged her head against a box full of supplies.

	When Deirdre came to, the first thing she was aware of was the smell of rabbit.  She lay in a bed that was much more comfortable than anything she'd ever known and the room was cool and still.  Her head ached and her left arm felt stiff and sore.  When she tried to move it, she found it was bound in rags and lashed across her chest in a crude sling.
	“Lie still.  You're okay, just a little banged up is all.  Your arm's broken but that's all, for a wonder,” Saoirse said.
	A match flared and the old rabbit lit the lantern beside the bed.  She gave Deirdre a gentle smile, and put a hand on Deirdre's shoulder to stop her getting up.
	“What happened?” Deirdre said.
	“You just go back to sleep.  Your mom and dad are fine.  They're in the next room with your sister,” Saoirse said.
	“Is Maura okay?”
	When Saoirse didn't answer right away, Deirdre threw off the covers and scrambled to her feet.  She felt dizzy and the pain in her head made her sick, but she refused to let that stop her.  The door to her room was open and when she shut her eyes and sniffed she could smell her family's familiar scent under the overwhelming scent of rabbit.  She followed it all the way down the hall to a much bigger room with nothing but a curtain across the door.  Saoirse followed her, and when Deirdre heard her mother's sobs, Saoirse put a hand on her shoulder.
	“Your sister should be okay, in time,” Saoirse said.
	Maura lay in the middle of a large bed, fast asleep.  Half her body was covered in bandages and her bright yellow fur was stained with blood.  Deirdre had to watch closely to see her sister's chest rise and fall with breath.  Their parents sat on either side of the bed and Deirdre was relieved to see that, except for a few cuts and scrapes, both of them were okay.  Except there was a hollow, miserable look on her father's face, such as she'd never seen him wear before.  Emer just looked angry, but then she always was when she had to deal with something she couldn't control.
	“Lynxes attacked your wagon and pushed it over.  Your sister was caught underneath,” Saoirse said.
	“They smashed everything.  What they didn't steal, they burned.  But that's nothing.  As long as my girls are okay, they can have it, we can always get new things,” Emer said.
	Deirdre walked over to her sister's bed and she brushed a lock of Maura's hair out of her face.  Maura stirred and moaned in pain but she didn't wake up.
	“Will she really be okay?” Deirdre said.
	“The doctors has been in to see both of you.  Your sister is going to live, and she'll be strong enough travel again in time, but she'll never walk again,” Saoirse said.
	Deirdre heard her mother sob again, and Feargus took Emer in his arms to try to comfort her.  Deirdre had never seen either of them look scared before, and she'd never imagined that either of them could ever feel that way.  She sat down on the edge of her sister's bed and curled her tail around her knees, for the comfort it gave her.  Maura was annoying and pushy, always playing the big sister to stop Deirdre from doing anything she liked.  Only this morning, Deirdre would have been only too happy to be an only child.  Now, though, Maura looked so small and fragile under her bandages, and all Deirdre could think of was hurting the people who had done this to her.  She took hold of one of Maura's hands with her good one and laid her ears flat.
	“When I grow up and become a soldier, nothing like this will ever happen again.  I'll make sure those cats never hurt anyone else ever again.  I promise,” Deirdre said.