Phoenix Maplewood Are you still around?

-chucks Nanook in here (while assuming a lot of things)-

Nanook wasn't in the forest, but she was close enough to hear Desna's call for her. Yet instead of piquing her ears, they slicked back. The reverberation seized the child's heart and twisted that same ugly guilt she'd tried to run from since turning from her sister weeks before. Her encounter with Xan still lingered in a tangled web of emotion couldn't discern. It kept her from returning to the Maplewood, and to the family she'd left behind.

Yet the hurt in her brother's eyes had remained with her, and reminded her of what she'd done to Desna, and the pain that had been inscribed on her sister's face when Nanook had pushed her away. There was something different to this guilt compared to the one she felt over her parent's separation. She didn't know what she'd done to make them leave each other, but with Desna, she knew what had made her upset, and her innards writhed whenever she thought of it. At first Nanook had managed to defend her actions, but as the days turned to months, her certainty became a swamp of dread and hostility. The guilt only grew the more she tried to ignore it, and the more she felt how much she needed her sister again.

She felt hopeless, confused, and the louder, more stubborn part of her still told her she was doing right. After all, Desna had expressed no interest in helping her look for Xan. Yet somewhere in her subconscious that guilt festered, until the quiet accusation was all she heard, and all that led her in her measured steps to the place where Desna had sounded her call.