*Solveig*

I can’t sleep.

Watching my father in his dragon form, ready to attack, flying around us then landing for a while; he is waiting for mom to return, and there is a void in him that can’t be filled until she comes back.

It is killing him, not being able to be with her. But she told him that it was his job to be with us and to protect us. That was a painful choice that my mother had to make.

I close the curtains and toss around in bed; my body seems ...