Ocean's Breath Plateau dentalium

something inside of red leaf wanted to tell him everything.
about the way she had taken ghaden under her wing and held him as if she had grown him in her own body, the love that had blossomed between she and cen and how it had gone so terribly wrong. the last time she saw the boy she had loved as her son, her fear of losing akiak in the same way. how none of this was what she had wanted, and yet she could never bring herself to just simply say no.
but it was her own fault, was it not? how was chakliux meant to help her if this was what she deserved? if this was simply what men did with their wives?
why was she crying?
and so she says nothing, not yet, still much too shell-shocked and weary to even look at him again. she flinches as he comes near, protects her face with a flimsy, delicate paw; only to realize that he is simply speaking to her.
maybe you are my cousin, she jokes, pulling her fist away from her face with a sniffle and a small, fluttering laugh. sorry, i-- it has been rough, these past few days. you are the first person to come visit me besides my husband.