I, too, remember Yael from the fic list. Before she joined the army for her military service, she was quite active, taking part in discussions, answering Kerth quizzes, sending feedback to us authors...

Digging through my old email folders, I found an old feedback post that she made for one of my stories. She was always so supportive and encouraging, as well as funny in her comments - in the email I dug out she was making a joke about being with Elena on preferring the evil ending to a fanfic.

What strikes me most tonight is that she was only 21. Only 21. She had her whole life ahead of herself, she had ambitions, she would probably have succeeded in them... and all of that was taken away from her in one dreadful second. frown

Every time there are news reports about terrorism attacks, I think about those FoLCs who live in areas where terrorism is part of the daily life. I wonder if they're okay, but always I dismiss it, believing that because I know them, it's not going to happen. There are millions of people in Israel after all - why would it be *them*? What happened to Yael proved that it's wrong. mecry

We'll all miss you, Yael. We'll always remember you fondly.

Kaethel frown

- I'm your partner. I'm your friend.
- Is that what we are?
- Oh, you know what? I don't know what we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each other's arms, but we never talk about it, so no, I got no clue what we are.

~ Rick Castle and Kate Beckett ~ Knockout ~