Micaiah had been seven when her baby sister was born, and that was the last she'd ever seen of their father. Years later, she would remember her parents fighting more and more as her mother's belly grew larger and larger. When the time came she sat in the hallway swinging her legs and listening to her mother's screams, and finally her father told her to come meet baby Sanaki.

Sanaki looked nothing like her father, and it would take Micaiah years to realize why. Dad walked out that night, and Sanaki's real father moved in. At first he seemed like a great guy, enough to make her forget that her real father was gone, but as Micaiah grew up her stepdad failed to. Mom finally realized she'd outgrown her lover and sent him packing as well. He took Sanaki with him, moved halfway across the country, and Micaiah never had another father after him. She and her mother grew close, almost like sisters.

Sanaki still visited, and Micaiah sometimes visited her. They got along well, but each time they felt less and less like sisters and Micaiah started to feel guilty. She'd held baby Sanaki in her arms that night at the hospital, but now Sanaki was growing up and Micaiah was missing out on doing all the things a big sister should for her little sister.

One night, Mom went out on a date while Sanaki was visiting. Micaiah purposely didn't make any plans for that evening, found a good movie on TV and invited her sister to sit and watch with her.

"This isn't bad," Sanaki said during the fourth commercial break. "Not as much fun as going on a candy run after dark, but your taste in movies isn't as bad as I thought it was."

"I was your age when I first saw this movie," Micaiah said, trying not to take offense. How can I expect her to have a high opinion of me when she barely knows me? "I thought...maybe now that you're thirteen, you'd appreciate it."

"In other words, I'm the right age to hear a bunch of twelve-year-olds talking about their boobs." Sanaki snorted. "It's okay, though. I don't usually like super girly things, but..."

"Oh." Micaiah looked down. "I-I guess I assumed..." She sighed, running a hand through her bangs. "I'm sorry, Sanaki. This is all just a set-up so we could bond more. We hardly see each other since you moved out with Dad, you're growing up, I'm already in college and..."

"You're worried you're failing me as a big sister," Sanaki finished. "And no one was surprised."

"Sanaki, I'm serious!" Micaiah was only barely aware the movie was back on. "I'm seven years older than you, I'm an adult and you're still in grade school and we haven't lived together since I was thirteen. We only see each other once a month at best, we never talk about anything but school..." She sighed. "Someday we'll run into each other on the street and realize that's all we are. Strangers." Tears stung her eyes now even though a funnier part of the movie was playing, Micaiah didn't even care about the movie anymore. Sanaki listened, but didn't even turn to look at her until the next commercial break came on.

"You're just afraid I'm going to forget you," she said. "Is that it? You think since we're not living together I'm going to forget I ever had a big sister." Micaiah's face burned, hearing her put it that way made it sound so dumb.

"Pretty much," she muttered. And then Sanaki hugged her, and Micaiah forgot to feel stupid or upset.

"How could anyone forget a sister like you?" she said. "Someone who cried over the homeless kids on the commercials and decided she was going to stop world hunger when she was twelve, or got in a big fight with Mom and Dad over keeping a baby bird you found on the sidewalk. I even remember what you named her!"

"You...remember Yune?" Micaiah smiled. "You were only four when I brought her home."

"Only you would name a bird after a Goddess," Sanaki said wryly.

"That's true." Micaiah laughed. "They let me keep her until she was well enough to go back into the wild, and I didn't want to let her go but even after I did she still hung around our yard for the next few years. I think she's still around, too...either her or some of her offspring."

"I even told my science class about Yune," Sanaki said. "I told them about the birdhouse you made her and how you fed her from the eyedropper and everything." Micaiah once again felt silly for letting herself get so emotional. See, you had nothing to worry about.

"I didn't think you still thought about me that much."

"Why, just because you're not here to buy me a bra and tampons and teach me how to wear makeup?" Sanaki laughed. "That's not what being a big sister's all about."

"It's more than that. I mean, even if someone else helped you with all that...we never talk. About life and love and everything besides school and food." Micaiah held her sister a little closer. "Do you have any boyfriends? Or girlfriends? Are you well-liked at school? What are your hobbies, your hopes, your dreams for the future?"

"Micaiah, I'm thirteen. The future's still a long way off," Sanaki said. "But I guess you've got a point with the other stuff. Sometimes...well, to tell you the truth there is someone I kind of..."

"Naesala?" Micaiah shook her head. "You always did enjoy pestering him." Sanaki blushed.

"I'll tell you who it is when I'm good and ready!"

"Come on, I told you when I started going out with Pelleas!"

"Only after I caught you making out," Sanaki pointed out, and this time it was Micaiah who blushed.

"Point taken."

"Look...maybe it is Naesala, maybe it's not," Sanaki said. "Anyway, it's not like I'm completely in love yet, not like you and Pelleas. Naesala's married!"

"Well, as long as you're not setting yourself up for heartbreak."

They talked long into the evening, only stopping occasionally to comment on the movie. And as they talked, Micaiah realized they'd never really grown as far apart as she'd feared after all.

We'll never be as close as Ike and Mist, or Nephenee and her sisters. But maybe we weren't meant to be. And that's okay.