Blacktail Deer Plateau something in my heart

As she repeated the word back, he grinned. “You speak my language well,” he told her. “Almost like we came from the same place.” And he hoped that, someday, they could converse freely in his mother tongue as if she truly was of the north. But his thoughts were brought to a halt by her comment that followed, making him feel conflicted. Although she visited the sea recently, he still felt uncertain—would it remain safe, was the question. “Maybe we can visit the sea sometime soon…” he suggested; he wanted to see the state of the coast for himself.

Thankfully, her language was just as simple as his own, if not more so. “Hi,” he repeated back, liking sea better than previously learned words. “Sitjak is beach or shore,” he told her, though he could not think of a word for coast. “Seet-yahk. Do you like the sitjak more than here?”