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"All of them younger than Misaki have never heard thunder," Kya informed, her voice barely above a whisper, "And the rest of us, only once or twice. Except possibly Mother," She glanced in Setsuko's direction.

Tess let go of Misaki finally, her knuckles still white. She was as frightened as Misaki was, despite the numerous times she had been in storms.

Setsuko nodded in Kya's direction. "Would you guys like to hear a bit about what happened when Rue and I first met?" She offered, inviting the children to sit in a circle.

Tess sat down in the forming circle, Maddy joining in. Gale did so a bit releculantly, but Tess's pleading look made him.

Yuumi still clung to Kya, but they managed to sit down in the circle. "I take that as a yes, then?" Setsuko asked, her gaze sweeping through the room.

Maddy nodded, and Gale stared at the floor. "It's a yes," Tess agreed.

Setsuko nodded. "Ok, then." She rolled her eyes back as if literally looking for the memories. "Well, when Rue and I were just teenagers, not much older then Maddy, Gale, and Kya, we met up for the first time. Our first talk was pretty similar to the ones you all had while we were on out way to the cabin," She recalled. "And then suddenly, a bitter wind drew my attention to the gathering stormclouds on the horizon." Setsuko dropped her voice low for a dramatic effect. "I pointed it out to Rue, and we flew off in search of shelter. We managed to find a small cave--" "What about the cabin?" Kanna interrupted curiously. "We hadn't found it quite yet," Setsuko explained, then continued. "Anyways, we found the small cave and hid in it. We had to stay there for quite a long time," She glanced cautiously up at Rue, silently willing her not to give any further details.

Rue caught the glance, and the message in it. She nodded fractionally. She wouldn't have given details away anyways.

"How long exactly?" Tess asked.

Setsuko hesitated for just a moment. "I...can't remember," she said finally, hoping she sounded truthful.

Tess nodded.

"So, what was in the cave?" Maddy asked, unkowingly asking the worst question possible

Setsuko groaned inwardly. "It was a small cave," she said quickly, "There were just little rocks and stuff."

Maddy nodded, a bit disappointed. She had hoped for something a bit moer exciting.

Another flash of lightning struck, followed by the crash of thunder. Misaki jumped; Li and Yuumi screamed. The other three children, along with Kuilak, looked around uneasily. Even Sumi seemed nervous.

"No reason to get scared. It's just a storm," Gale said. Despite his words, Tess clung onto Maddy's hand.

"A weird storm!" Misaki whined. "Yea, wy is stowm powing watuw? I though stowms powed 'noh!" Agreed Yuumi warily.