Blacktail Deer Plateau Chicken Dinner

Sorrel's heart was racing but her brother's presence didn't do much to soothe her this time around. There was too much happening, too much, too much, too much... When it was too much, Maman would sing to her to calm her, try and bring her back to earth. But Maman wasn't here and Sorrel was stuck in too much. 

She pushed away from Kieran, trying to get him to stop touching her because that was too much, and she wanted to scream for Day to stop because that was too much, and she wanted the other one, the stranger, to leave because if he hadn't been there then there wouldn't have been too much.

But he was. And there was. And that was the end of it.

Sorrel watched in slow motion as Grayday lunged at her assailant and she began to wonder if that was really what he was. If anything, Grayday was scaring her far more than the other male had, but he was protecting her, right? And if he was protecting her then he didn't count. Nothing that he did counted, right? If she was being protected then why didn't she feel safe?

If she didn't speak up then, there would never be another chance to. And yet, she stayed silent.