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Aisling and Aednat Brogan had never once left the path that took them to the lake. Not but a mile from their quaint little home amongst the trees, the trail had been made through many years of the Brogan women trampling to and from the lake. The girls had spent plenty of times exploring the woods surrounding their house, but peculiarly they had never actually left the path once leaving the immediate area, as much as they liked to explore.

This fact was not lost on Aisling, the younger of the two sisters. As far as she was concerned, at eleven-years-old she was at the prime of her life and she should be off exploring! The woods around the Brogan house had always been quite safe, so she didn't see any reason why they shouldn't be a bit further out. Such was the naive mind of a child, and a mode of thinking that left her bored and restless as she trailed behind her elder sister.

The only reason Aisling was currently going along with this boring walk was for her mother. Beibhinn Brogan was the one reason the two girls had never considered leaving home before. Aednat could have attended Murmuring Pines years ago, as Aisling was to do now, while her sister attended Majesco Psychic Academy. While at the time Aisling had been too young to comprehend, she now knew that if Aednat had left so soon after their father had hit the road, the effect may have been less than pleasant on their already fragile mother.

But things were different now. The girls were leaving tomorrow, so they had decided to put together a special gift for mama Brogan before they had to go. There grew a flower near the lake, the only place they'd ever seen it grow. Beibhinn was extremely fond of the blossom, and there had once been a time that she'd walk the path to the lake daily to pick it. The girls planned to make her a beautiful bouquet to present her with.

Aisling dragged her feet childishly across the dirt path, her eyes floating to and fro as she looked for something to entertain herself with. As if sensing her frustration, her dog Moose let out a low whine and bumped his forehead against her bottom, to which she responded with a giggle. "Cut it out!" She called to him gently, before running up beside Aednat and slipping her small hand around her sister's fingers.

- - - - -

The pleasantly fresh scent of the morning breeze flowed inside Aednat as she and her sister went winding through the massive trees of the forest and down the old path towards the lake. Aednat Brogan had many fond memories of the times she traveled the path with her sister and mother. Of course she was also aware of the bad memories that went along with them, including the day she watched her father abandon them by way of that same trail.

Aednat did not let that awful memory tarnish her love for that simple path though. She liked to consider herself an optimist and believed that her father leaving was actually a gift that pulled the Brogan women together. She also knew that she was responsible for taking care of her young sister Aisling and the only way to be successful at that was to stay strong.

As Aednat pondered what greatness the day would bring to her, she couldn't help but let out a wide grin as she felt her sister's slight fingers wrap around her own. Sensing the boredom that Aisling faced, Aednat began humming the first notes of an old Irish tune that they both greatly enjoyed.

- - - - -

It took mere seconds for Aisling to join in, after a giggle and skip of excitement of course! "I wish I were on yonder hill," she sang, closing her eyes and trusting that her sister wouldn't let her trip and fall. She swung their arms together as she sang. It was an old song their mother had taught them. She had insisted on teaching them traditional tunes both in English and Gaelic, and while she was not fluent by any means, Aisling quite enjoyed singing in another language. She thought the words sounded pretty.

By the time they reached the chorus, singing, "Suil, suil, suil a ruin," Aisling opened her eyes. When she did, she stopped the song abruptly, dropped her sister's hand and stopped walking. There was a bit of an opening through the trees, almost a path but clearly not often walked by humans. As she peered through the opening curiously, she caught out of the corner of her eye the sight of a bird flying overhead. It was a crow.

The sudden appearance of the bird made her think of her mother's old tales. One such tale involved someone she called the Morrigan, who would at times take the form of a crow and bestow upon soldiers bravery in battle. Stories such as these were why they kept dogs. Beibhinn believed with every fiber of her being that animals were all special in one way or another, and their guardian dogs were no exception.

"I want to go that way," Aisling said suddenly, pointing in the direction the bird had flown through the trees.

- - - - -

Feeling her sister's hand abruptly drop from her own, Aednat spun to see the cause. Her eyes shot quickly from Aisling to the woods as she remembered that her mother had always cautioned them to not wander from the path, for the woods were dangerous. Yet, Aednat had always been curious of what was beyond the beaten path and for a moment she let herself believe that she would join hands with her sister and run into the trees.

She was broken from this idea when her dog Finnegan suddenly let out a low growl and brought himself closer to Aednat. She had always trusted the instincts of her canine friend and this moment was not going to change that. "Finnegan senses something is not right," she objected. "I don't think it's a good idea to leave the trail. Let's keep going," she added.

As she turned to continue towards the lake, Aednat assumed her sister to be convinced by her words and expected that she would feel Aisling's hand wrap around her own again. Aisling tended to be an adventurous spirit but she usually listened to her older sister. Oddly though, the sound of her sister's footsteps seemed to be absent from rest of the woodland noises.

- - - - -

Of course Aisling wasn't happy with her sister's response. She did expect it, but that didn't make it any easier for the young child to respect Aednat's judgement.

She also knew that when she said Finnegan sensed something, it wasn't just the growling that alerted her to this. While their mother's beliefs were rooted deep in the history of her people, it was a lot more than old stories for the Brogans. There were real, tangible powers in the family. While they had always talked about it like it was magic, the girls knew now that people like them, "psychics", came from all over.

Their mother had tried to bring the powers out in the girls from an early age. The fact that Aednat could understand the dogs and communicate with them made little Aisling extremely jealous, and she spent every day trying to learn to do the same, but to no avail.

Maybe it was the resentment towards her sister for being able to hear the dog yet again. Maybe it was the bird. Or maybe it was the stubborn mind of an eleven-year-old. More likely it was all three. "I don't care," she muttered, before stepping off the trail into the woods without looking to see if Aednat followed. Moose followed dutifully behind her, seemingly unaware of the danger the other dog sensed.

- - - - -

When Aednat realized that her sister was heading into the trees and not continuing down the trail, she realized she had no choice but to follow her. Despite her age, Aisling was quite strong so dragging her to the lake was not really an option. Secretly, she was a little envious of her sister's bravery to enter the unknown.

Something about the woods seemed mysterious to Aednat in a way that made the hair on her neck prickle up. She could definitely admire the beauty of the fungus that grew up the sides of the trees, or the colorful variety of flowers. Yet, there was a pressing fear in her mind that danger was just a stone's throw away.

Hastily moving after her sister, Aednat listened to Finnegan as he warned her that something was up ahead. Aisling was a good distance apart from Aednat when a great crashing noise came from the brush in front of them.

Rushing forwards, Aednat went to move between whatever was running through the brush and her sister. Before she could reach her though, a large boar came rampaging through the bushes, directly towards them.

- - - - -

A bit of smug satisfaction ran through Aisling when her sister followed. But it was short lived. She heard the boar approaching before she saw it, but she did not expect the tusked beast that appeared from the brush. The blood drained from her face instantly. In all their years playing in the woods around their home, Aisling had never seen anything particularly life threatening. She'd almost stepped on a snake once, but her mother had shown her that it was completely harmless.

While Aisling was frozen in place, Moose jumped immediately into a defensive position. He lunged in front of the small girl, lips curling back to reveal his impressive fangs, a nasty snarl escaping him.

"Ae-aednat..." Aisling's voice sounded choked. Any bravery that may have taken hold of her was now completely replaced by fear.

- - - - -

The boar standing before the Brogan sisters was massive, with great tusks that curved out in a frightening manner. Judging by it's many scars, this was a boar who had a history in battle.

Aednat took the last few steps towards her sister as the boar paused in reaction to Moose. She grasped at her sister's hand and whispered, "Don't move." Spittle flew from Finnegan's bared teeth and his hair rose on his back as he joined Moose in front of the girls.

As if sizing up the dogs that stood before it, the boar tilted it's head and focused in on them. Deciding that it was a better choice to not go up against the fangs of two large dogs, the boar turned and hastily retreated into the brush it came from.

Aednat stood stiff as she watched the boar leave. Feeling her sister's shaking hand, she turned towards her and gave her a quick once over, checking for any wounds. "Are you okay?" she asked.

- - - - -

This time Aisling heeded her sister's advice. She stood completely still, only squeezing Aednat's hand tight when she reached for her. She startled briefly when the boar moved, but a sigh of relief ran through her when it only disappeared back into the trees.

"Yeah," she whispered shakily, still holding Aednat's hand. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed with you..." Her voice cracked and her eyes welled, but she did her best to sniff them away.

"We should keep going." She wasn't hurt, and all she wanted was to leave the woods before the boar, or something worse, came back. They were already far enough off the trail that she kept walking in the direction she had started off in. Something told her she was still right, that they could get there this way.

- - - - -

Seeing the tears in her sister's eyes and how she stopped them before letting out a sob, Aednat realized that despite her fear, Aisling valued her own bravery. So instead of taking her into her arms and holding her tight like she wanted to, she smiled softly at her and sighed. "Good."

Deciding that her sister's happiness was of more worth than insisting they turn back, Aednat patted Finnegan on his head and continued after Aisling.

The trees began to thin out after a few minutes of silent walking and the Brogan girls found themselves standing on a different side of the lake than the path usually brought them to. The side they usually emerged on beheld a small green patch of land with a few of their mother's favorite flowers growing along the edge. This side was absolutely covered in the beautiful blossoms.

"Would you look at that," Aednat marveled.

- - - - -

It did not go unnoticed by the child that her sister did not insist they turn back to the path. She looked down at Moose and smiled, silently thanking him though she knew he couldn't hear her. Maybe some day...

She shrugged and continued on with Aednat, humming softly again the tune that they had taken up earlier. When the trees thinned and she saw the flowers and the lake, a gasp of wonder escaped her and her eyes grew wide. "Look!" She shrieked childishly, and immediately ran towards the blossoms. They'd made it after all!

Aisling took it as a sign. Their mother was always talking about things like that. Good things were coming, she thought to herself as she tumbled into the flowers, Moose picking up on her excitement and rolling with her. She smiled up at Aednat from amongst the blooms.

- - - - -

As her sister rolled into the flowers, Aednat laughed in utter bliss. This was one of the moments that would become a great memory for her.

Finnegan looked up at Aednat as if playfully challenging her to jump into the flowers and as she was not one to turn down a dare, she ran to her sister and flipped over onto the soft grass. All four of them lay together amongst the fresh blooms and suddenly the bad of the day was gone.

The sweet smell of nature flowed through Aednat's nostrils and she sighed in content. Finnegan began sneezing due to the pollen that was whirling through the air and both girls burst out laughing at the sight. Turning to face her giggling sister, she said in a tone so quiet that she doubted Aisling heard, "I adore you."

Baba had said: Yes, you may collect flowers for your mother. There'd been an indulgent smile, a throaty laugh through his thick beard.

Baba had said: But be back at home by four - you wouldn't want her to miss you, would you?

Baba had said: But stay on the path. It always remembers the way home. Sruthi, hold your sister's hand.

They'd taken the basket and put on their good sneakers. The forest wasn't far - they lived in rural California, and it was practically their backyard - but it was still a walk, and of course even the well-worn path had pointy twigs in it that'd put splinters in their feet. "I know where the best dahlias grow," Sruthi said to Nikita, a smile lingering on her face.

"Then I want lilies!" Nikita raised one arm up as she skipped alongside Sruthi, but soon she was beginning to pull ahead. "I think dahlias and lilies look pretty together."

"Sure," Sruthi began, but her sister was already straying off the path, gravitating toward a bright bunch of daisies that grew off to the side. "Wait - those aren't lilies!" At least she was within view. Sruthi crossed her arms and tapped her foot, a picture of impatience.

"Eh?" Nikita briefly looked back at her sister before continuing to crawl through the bushes toward the daisies. "But I think they'll look good in the bouquet too!" The child was definitely lying through her teeth, but this wasn't a problem as long as she could grab a handful of white flowers. Eyes wide and glowing, the girl bent down to pluck a handful by their bases, but she didn't have very long to do so - Sruthi rushed right over, pulling Nikita up by her shirt as soon as she was done with the flowers. The daisies were pretty, sure, but they needed to plan better - right?

Nikita made an indignant sound as her shirt was pulled. She tried to grab another handful of daisies, but this would just have to do. As she turned around, she immediately jutted out her lower lip to pout at Sruthi. But, but...!

Her sister was having none of that. "Come on," Sruthi said. "Let's look for those lilies." She let go of her sister's shirt and held out the basket out for the daisies. Better patient than not, right? She was a kid. "And maybe figure out a color scheme," she said, tapping her chin.

Seeing her plan had failed, Nikita’s pout transformed into a frown as she crossed her arms. “Fiiine.” She wobbled slightly as full control of her body was returned, then quickly dropped the daisies into the basket before dragging her feet back onto the path. “Actually, I think Mama will like whatever we pick,” she said after a moment.

What sucked about younger sisters was that they could be surprisingly insightful. Kid-logic just kind of worked that way. "Well - " Sruthi began, biting her lip. It was true. "It'll be even better if we're thoughtful, though." A pause as Nikita became distracted by a nice, smooth stone and picked it up. "Thinking about going zen?"

She held out the basket again for it to be dropped in, which Nikita happily did as she chirped, “I think it’s good to pick whatever you like. You can’t go wrong with that!” A pause before she leaned forward, her arms crossed and a tongue sticking out at Sruthi. "And I like daisies!"

Sruthi rolled her eyes before ushering her to keep walking. They continued on slowly, because that was life when you had a short attention span (Nikita) or were a little too antsy about details (Sruthi).

It was hot, and after a number of distractions they'd made it to the dahlias. Kind of. They found themselves at the edge of a clearing filled with flowers, hidden slightly by a veil of bushes and trees. "It's off the path," Sruthi warned. But just a little ways, right?

But Nikita had already begun to run, her face lit up with glee when she spotted the multi-colored dahlias clustered in a patch in the center. “I’ll get ‘em!”

Sruthi found herself rolling her eyes again. She followed dutifully regardless, because she'd had the gumption to suggest this in the beginning. She took it at a walk, though, glancing back over her shoulder every so often to check that their path was in view. It was just a little walk - but sometimes you never knew. There weren't signs or anything.

"What colors are you thinking?" Maybe something to match their hair? Then it'd remind Mama of them.

"All of them!" Nikita answered without second thought. Giggles escaped her lips as she skidded to a halt in front of the flower patch.

Sruthi’d have said something about pinks and reds and purples (which was, admittedly, already most of the range you could get with dahlias - probably the reason she'd mentioned them in the first place). But she'd been looking back, distracted. She wasn't looking out deeper into the forest, which may have been her mistake. (Nikita wasn't even trying.)

Nikita picked up as many dahlias as she could, pleased to have temporarily been given creative control, but when she noticed a shadow cast over her own, she pouted and stood up.

"What? I think all of th--..." The child stood frozen with her lips parted, staring at a bear cub and its mother ambling slowly behind it.

Sruthi didn't expect her sister to stop talking. That was not a very Nikita trait. The abrupt pause made her turn and face the -

The bear? No - the bears? There were two of them, large and small, and she didn't know what they were doing here. "Get behind me - " Sruthi hissed, stumbling forward until she could grasp at Nikita's shirt. What could she do?

"W-Wait, I think they're harmless." Nikita clenched the flowers in her hands, flailing her free arm at Sruthi. The little one was even cute!

It wasn't even growling, or anything - just walking toward them. As long as she backed away slowly, everything would be fine. But with every step the cub seemed to curiously step forward with its gaze fixated on her dahlias. Nikita tentatively held one hand out to the cub. Maybe if she gave it the dahlias--as much as she didn't want to let them go--maybe it would be satiated and leave the clearing.

Harmless? That bigger bear had to weigh hundreds of pounds - and the expression 'mama bear' existed for a reason. So what ran through Sruthi's mind was panic.

Wait, no - she could - Sruthi closed her eyes, a hand clutched around Nikita's shirt. Surface thoughts, surface thoughts...

The cub was thinking about eating flowers. Well, you could try eating the ones on the ground, she thought fiercely, but of course it didn't respond. The mother was just focused on her cub.

What's on the ground? someone was thinking, in an overly excited tone. Hold on tight, my packmate and I are coming for it! It's ours!

"Don't touch it," Sruthi said aloud. "I don't know if - "

Nikita tried to swat Sruthi away as her sister hissed into her ear. "I think it's fine!" With her sister pulling on her shirt, Nikita tried to inch closer to the cub, but a loud, long howl broke her concentration.

"Nikita!" Sruthi hissed, again.

The flowers scattered everywhere, even over the cub, and Nikita's first instinct was to pick up the dahlias that'd fallen to the ground - well, the close ones, anyway. Behind her, Nikita could hear snapping twigs and rustling leaves. "S-Sruthi...?"

Nikita didn't stop. Sruthi couldn't believe that her sister was just - just - picking up her flowers, like the cub wasn't right there. Wouldn't it be better to get back to the path? The animals wouldn't follow them there. They'd be. Safe? "No, there's something co - " she began, and then her sister finally, wisely, darted back. Nikita hastily tossed the fallen dahlias into the basket and scrambled behind the older girl. Whatever had heard them was close at hand, by the sound of those snapping twigs.

Incoming! thought someone who really was overly enthused about this.

Sruthi spun around, clutching her sister as tightly against her body as she could manage. Nikita continued to cling to Sruthi, too, whipping around only a few seconds later. It was...a pair of dogs? One white, one black. Large, but not nearly as dangerous as a bear, unless they were rabid. To Nikita's relief, they looked pretty harmless, although they were barking loudly and running through the clearing. Beside her, Sruthi slowly exhaled.

Unfortunately, the barks also irritated the mother bear. She let out her own roar, her head whipping back and forth as she sauntered forward to push her cub behind her.

"S-Sruthi...!" Nikita insisted in a higher voice.

"T-that way!" said Sruthi, picking a direction behind them at random, and tugging Nikita in her wake. She could swear she'd just seen the path...

But it wasn't much of a path, was it? Just some dirt that was cleared of plants every couple months by the local rangers. And they'd had to squeeze past a few bushes to get here. Was it that tree they'd passed, with the moss at her eye level, or the one over there with the twisted branch? Sruthi couldn't...

These flowers are ours, one of the dogs was thinking, as it barked.

What the hell? Sruthi thought back. That's a bear! And it was roaring, too.

Nope, Nikita thought. She was having none of her sister's panic. Sruthi may have pulled at the child's hand, but now she was dragging her elder sister through the woods. She stumbled over crawling tree branches, but pushed herself back onto her feet to continue leading them as far from the clearing as possible.

She flinched when she heard the bear cry out again, followed by a series of growls and barks. "Hurry up!" Nikita whined.

Yeah, sue Sruthi. So the way she reacted to fear was freezing up, and the way her sister reacted was motion. That was kind of how it'd always been. Sruthi liked plans.

But when her sister ran, she had to follow, keeping pace as best as she could. She was ordinarily better at this running thing - longer legs, you know - but the heavy foliage meant that Nikita's smaller body lent her extra dexterity.

Behind them there was barking. They weren't the only ones running.

Nikita was too focused to hear the dogs, though. They continued to stumble, Sruthi more-so than Nikita, but eventually the sisters managed to burst out of the woods in a flurry of leaves and twigs.

As soon as Nikita let go of Sruthi's hand, she promptly collapsed to the ground, rolled onto her back, and groaned loudly.

"Where are we?" Sruthi'd have asked, except she recognized the place - that was Nikita's elementary school, over there, with the cyan-and-pink swingset. They could still walk home - except she was pretty sure neither of them wanted to go through the woods again. She looked back towards the woods with worry as Nikita slowly rolled onto her side, speaking for the first time since they'd exited the woods.

"Why'd you have to go and make them mad?" she pouted.

"I - I - we should've stayed on the path," said Sruthi, shaking her head.

Well, Sruthi had suggested dahlias, Nikita thought. Then she glanced over at the basket, which had spilled quite a few of its flowers. "It has to be a daisy bouquet now," she said smugly.

"Or...we can stop at the grocery store on the way home, and we can bake cupcakes." They deserved it, after that scare, Sruthi thought. "And you can decorate them," she offered, placating. Those remaining flowers were not in good shape.

"Bear cupcakes!" Nikita grinned, although that second word was drowned out by a pair of familiar canines flopping onto the ground next to her.

We lost 'em! one of the dogs said, victorious. Hey, where are we? Where's the food? We thought we'd get chow.

Sruthi stared, stunned. It took only a nervous glance toward Nikita - wide-eyed, rapt with attention - to decide what to say to that. We're...about to make cupcakes, she thought, shaking her head. Man, now she'd have to explain this to their parents...

At least they had new friends, although they probably had to at least look for their owners. Or get them vaccinated. But that was a matter for a latter day. For now, it was enough that Nikita sprang to her feet with a triumphant giggle. "You can stay with them outside the grocery store!" she said, already racing off.

"How will you pay?" Sruthi called back, watching the dogs take off after her sister as she herself began to jog to catch up. What mattered was that they'd all come out of it in one piece.