Editing Storm of Amber (section)

==Records of a Floating Life==
"Though he was oldest, Storm of Amber was never our father's favorite son.  He was never a disappointment, it's just that father loved Walking Leaf more.  Maybe it was for the memory of Willow, Leaf's mother; she died when I was young, so I don't remember her, but our cousins told me that father loved her dearly.  In any case, father doted on Leaf and left Storm mostly to fend for himself.  

[[Image:stormsbanner.gif|left|frame]]"It's lucky that's what Storm was good at.  He taught himself to ride like no other could.  He taught himself to hunt and to fight, with only a little help from our cousins.  He made friends easily.  But we all knew he had no future on our ranch.  When father sent Storm to [[Lookshy]] with that year's training mission, it was almost a relief.  At least that way he would have proper training and a future at home.

"Storm came back from Lookshy with a gleam in his eye, a vision of what [[The Marukan Alliance|Marukan]] could be.  That's about when father died.  Leaf got everything, of course.  We could have stayed, but Storm wasn't content to be Leaf's hired hand and Leaf had full sisters to care for before he could look to me.  So Storm became a circuit rider, brought mother back to her father's house and married me to [[Song of the Silver Wind]].  Storm got [[Vaults the Moon]] as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_price bride price], but I think that I got the best part of the trade.

"My husband and Storm were like true brothers after that, I think because Storm had never been able to be close to Walking Leaf.  They rode together often, and called on each other for help in tough spots.  The time everyone talks about the most, the time with the ghosts, was the only time I was ever really scared.  The men from a nearby range town had driven off some bandits earlier that year, but the bandits had died, hurt and starving, in a ravine not far away.  No one knew it, but their ghosts were angry at going unburied and they rode in every night seeking revenge.  My husband spoke with the townsmen and Storm with the ghosts - they got the ghosts to lay down their arms in exchange for a proper burial and having their names added to the rolls of honored ancestors.  When Storm and my husband returned from that trip they were changed, glowing with their great accomplishment and the power of the sun."

-- ''Gentle Rain, Sister to Storm of Amber, Wife to [[Song of the Silver Wind]]