King Elk Forest around my wandering feet

some stubborn part of mona wanted to resist what gracious was saying, toss it away with a scoff. what did the ashgrey woman know about being in the girl's own skin? but the nuro knew the woman was right; she listened till her tears subsided and the nodding began. a sigh escaped mona; she crossed her forepaws on the snow, then crossed them the other way.
"i guess they didn't mean anything by it. i guess ... they did what they thought was best." her throat clenched then and the girl paused, unable to go on. another breath; she glanced up at gracious with a wry half-smile. "are you a counselor? you should be —you're very good at this." there was nothing more to say, or perhaps nothing more she wanted to say, except 
mona held words on her tongue until she couldn't; she released them into gracious' inviting ears. "why is love so ... hard?"