Ankyra Sound Once you had a hook and ladder up into the headless night

She understood how difficult it could be to talk about a loss, particularly when it was so fresh. With a single nod in acceptance, Raleska glanced away. She was unwilling to pressure the healer, or reopen wounds that might not have had a chance to heal.

"That's alright," she said, sounding like something of an old lady dancing delicately around a dangerous topic. "We can talk about other things. I was thinking of naming them Urchin and Splat." Raleska grinned, a rare sight on her solemn features. Hopefully the joke would open the way to less painful conversation, and the two might find kinship in far more grounding things than simply death.

Finding herself at ease among Sugar's company, Raleska kept throwing absolutely inane and inappropriate suggestions out there, until at last the joke had been spent and the two parted company.