Otatso Wetlands will you be ready when the straw-boss calls?

it would be impossible to miss the beam of light that seemed to cross nunataq's expression; even a blind mole would have detected that shift in the air, as if the arrangement of some bright and scintillating cosmos. indra might not have been aware how validating her approval was to the girl prior to that, but seeing that change, was enough to make the redleaf woman realize nunataq was growing.

not just in the physical sense -- that fact was already evident by the long and coltish appearance of the girl. no -- nunataq was growing in the emotional sense; indra had always thought that life began rather boringly - a one dimensional spawn that thought only of 'eat' and 'sleep'. and as time soldiered on that spawn turned to something else: toddler.

terrible, mighty, voracious -- and so sweetly fragile . 'eat' and 'sleep' morphed into 'eat, sleep and play'.

but then, one day things changed. 'play' would always be there, but then 'think' came along, and well, 'think' was quite different. and the more one thought, the more one tended to get in trouble -- to the point where the mind could be more hindrance than help, in the wrong context or wrong situation. it occurred to indra that while she had always thought of nunataq as an individual, she had not always given the girl fair credit.

while indra wrestled with this immortal and ageless realization a parent has of their 'child', nunataq was digging furiously for mole. it was a good thing such troubles of the world were often hidden from the young, indra thought -- and then on quiet toes she snuck around the girl and nosed the dirt, looking for a possible exit to the tunnel nunataq had discovered.