Phoenix Maplewood Remember When

Desna is seriously breaking my heart right now D: And sorry again that Nanook is pretty much like talking to a wooden board xD Also, thanks! (:

Nanook turned her face away. Desna's words fell on deaf ears again, until her sister's sudden touch upon her cheek.

Something flooded Nanook then, a surge of heat that twisted her heart and lodged up her throat. White flickered on the edge of her vision, an obstruction she couldn't blink away. Like the day she's raked her sister's face, only this time without reason. The sensation subsided when Desna's voice washed over her, yet she couldn't get the taste of her sister's blood out of her mouth.

She sensed the emotion and grief pouring from Desna, but outwardly Nanook remained cold as the dead fish papa had brought them back in the Valley. Only the tremble in her legs betrayed her inner writhing, but unlike Desna, she couldn't figure out what her sister expected her to say, or what she was even supposed to do with the mess of everything she felt. No one had taught her how to be sad, or angry, or how to show her loved ones she cared when everything was going wrong. She only had the example her parents had set, and they hadn't given her much of one at all.

Nanook had to go, and she remained unconvinced Desna needed her here, so she clung to the only tangible reassurance she could give. "I won't leave you alone." She kept her gaze turned away, still unable to meet the desperation she was at fault for in her sister's face. Nanook would look, but while she was gone, Desna would have mama and Sesi. And she would always come back. This mess was her fault. Nanook didn't expect her to understand. But her plan was to make their family whole again, and Desna was as much a part of that as the rest of her kin. Nanook said again, as if to reassure herself, "You won't be alone."