Sequoia Coast tell me how it is being the sun

“Mama,” she repeats. She can’t remember the last time she heard that voice. Her eyes blur but the tears nearly freeze before they spill over and her lids flutter them back, leaning into the kisses and hugs each of them give her. Through their closeness, she’s able to stay up right but she can’t find a single point to focus on. Her ears droop and she noses into the nook of someone’s limbs.

“Papa,” she cries. In that moment she doesn’t understand his words but she knows, knows it’s important.

And desperately, she wants to understand.

Qilaq swivels her head as she blinks back frozen tears on her face to move with him. The warmth of his body against hers causes her to lean closer and slowly her legs slip beneath her weight. They are shaky and cold and she isn’t really sure she can feel them but they still move through the deep snow when she takes her first, careful and unsteady step home.