Sea Lion Shores wow, sarcasm! that’s original!

The giggle that spilled from Eirlys’ lips at Sif’s touch was a sound so bright and joyful she found herself startled by it. Was she being too loud? Probably. Awkward and shy, she made to return the favor, feeling an automatic deference toward the banded female — but as always, she’d taken too long deciding what to do and was left poking out her tongue at empty air just as the mahogany-eyed girl turned her lovely head. The snowdrop tried to cover it up by looking in the same direction — oh, right! — and sucking her tongue back into her mouth with an audible plip!

“I have family,” she answered slowly, wishing that she had an accent as cool as Sif’s. Her pacing ticked like a slowly climbing rollercoaster car before falling into a rapid downward spiral: “My brother’s name is Ceallach. I used to have a brother named Roarke and a sister named Mallaidh but they got lost and I used to have a mama but a tree fell on her and she died and I used to have a papa but he’s gone now — but we have Hemlock, and Hemlock is our mama too, and she had babies with my papa so they’re my little brother and sister: Droman and Reed — oh.” Eirlys heard herself talking, heard the weird, halting breathiness of her voice, and tried to put a lid on it — but it was too late. Now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop.

More slowly, but quite unable to stop herself, “My mama — Lotte, not Hemlock — she’s never coming back. I think…I think that means my papa and Roarke and Mallaidh…” the girl hiccupped. “I don’t think they’re coming back anymore, either.” Her voice went croaky at the end before dissolving fully into tears: big, fat droplets that welled up in her eyes and disappeared into the dark fur that covered her cheeks. Hoping Sif wouldn’t see, she turned to look in the opposite direction. “Do you have a family?” she asked. “What’s your name?”