Miles away from pop troll village another troll was looking up at the stars. John Dory, who showed what River would look like in twenty years, scanned the stars with his blue eyes so like Branches. What he was looking for, no one could tell. Not even him.
The campfire was throwing dancing shadows around the campsite where JD sat on a log as his armadillo bus Ronda settled down for the night. Twenty one years on the everglade trail, eighteen since he tried to find his family and only found an empty tree. These years in exile was his self punishment for failing those who had once counted on him.
John Dory reached up and touched the old goggles, once a gift from Lily. Spruce and Clay had teased him so much about having a permanent indent on his forehead from where they lay. Floyd was always gentle about it, and Bitty B always loved to reach up and grab them whenever JD had been holding him. Taking a deep breath JD looked away from the stars he used to watch with Lily, once again pushing past the ache in his chest.
Ronda cooed at him, the only reason he could pull out of the despair and gray he had fallen into after the tree, "It's alright girl." Moving forward to pat her, "We'll head to Lily's grove tomorrow, alright?" Ronda cooed again and nuzzled against him, and JD touched his goggles again before starting to get everything ready for the night.