Bearclaw Valley Ghosts of our past

I apologize if I powerplayed in any way - let me know if overstepped anything, and I will edit! (:

A certain numbness lapsed over Nanook when her nose failed to meet the apparition's cheek. Not because Desna had disappeared, but because her apparition had reached out to meet her first. Nanook froze, and a hot flash zinged through the base of her ear, where her sister ruffled her fur with the coolness of her nose, and ticked the skin below with the heat of her breath. And for a moment, they were children again, wrapped in ma's protection and in the warmth of each other.

Desna's whine pinched the breath in Nanook's own throat, and she pressed her face against Desna's, just to be sure. Warm, and real, and when Desna whispered her name, her voice crashed waves and breakers over the feral girl.

Nanook had never worn her heart for the world. An icy cage had been its prison, and nimble paws had whisked it away before she could risk its thaw. Yet when Desna showered her with affection she longed to return, Nanook quaked on the fault of what she felt inside and the habits that had become her. She wished to nudge and lick and embrace the same - but she had held back so long, she didn't know how. Everything felt stiff - but she longed to feel the warmth of her sister, and somehow let Desna feel her own.

With clumsy and stilted movement, Nanook pushed forward to drape her head across her sister's back so the underside of her jaw rested in the dip between Desna's shoulders and spine. The motion felt awkward and unnatural, but it was all she knew how to give. And she hoped it was enough. Because this was really Desna - and Nanook squeezed her eyes shut, and whined. It's me, it's me, her pinched voice sought to say, but all that came out in her words, muffled by her strained voice and her sister's dark fur, was, "I'm sorry."