Stone Circle The secret life of daydreams

Nanook was grateful when Desna stepped in; her sister's help gave her the time to concentrate on what concerned her - the reaction Krypton would give upon seeing her return. Nanook counted her prior leave from Silvertip a graceless one, for she had given neither word nor warning to her sudden slip into the night. Because of this - and because Krypton had been the one to give her a chance before - she wholly expected the older woman's face to twist into a cold and scrutinizing look. Nanook blinked in surprise when Krypton met her with the opposite.

A sway took hold of the Apaata's tail, but her face held fast to an intense and uncertain stare. She had expected hatred from Desna, but had been shown forgiveness. Hostility from Krypton, but had received a welcome warmer than she could make sense of. Everything seemed entirely unreal - even her sister's explanation of how they had engaged in a strange and circular game, as Krypton pointed out, struck her as nothing but fantasy. Like one of the stories she drew from the stars - yet this story was not one she had made, but one she had lived, and was living in now, like a waking daydream.

Nanook didn't know what to do, and her lips twitched into a small and nervous sort of grin as she ducked her head to Krypton, and hoped to pluck something from her mind to say. Silence had served her well within the wild, but here, words counted as something, just like they had back in Bearclaw Valley, when she'd practiced her speech in her secret hideaway away from prying ears. "Uh-huh. Guess we did." She said with a slow nod to Krypton, and scuffed her forepaw against the ground. She glanced at Desna. "And guess we do." Nanook felt the skin burn beneath her fur, and she shied her eyes to the wiry grass at her sister's paws.