Northstar Vale A new reason to smile.

Reiko's admission curbed some of Ibis' enthusiasm and vigor; the girl looked at her friend intently, at first perplexed with how to take the comment, but then a subtle darkness enveloped her little face. She shot to her feet, the thin fur along her scruff and spine bristling like quills.

What do you mean. Did - did someone hurt you? A flash of memory startled her then; an image of a drowned woman, face buried in the mire. The shock and horror and disgust all tangled in to a heap, which she had swallowed down. One of her last memories of their last home - a murderer on the loose. Somehow her brain tied that to Reiko's comment. Reiko, Ibis sighed her name, delicate upon her lips, but incised with residual fervor from her earlier diatribe.

If only she were bigger, bolder, stronger; if only she were Okeanos! Or any man. If only she had been here.