Noctisardor Bypass miles on the run

"i can't stay for long," he told her, nodding at the sun in the sky, which was beginning to sink lower with each minute gone by. "but i can be a distraction, for now." adi was good at such things, normally, but these past moons had been so tumultuous. was he still capable of carefree levity, after all that had occurred? perhaps he would bring her into further misery by virtue of his state of mind, rather than give her the relief she sought.

"how is. . .ikkanattuk?" aditya asked, drawing out each syllable with some uncertainty--cosmopolitan as he was, there were always new languages to be learned, and this word was part of one of them. there was no real love between the glacier wolves and the morningsiders--why would there be?--but he hoped that, with time and mutual respect, their relationship would be mended.