Kintla Flatlands the ceaseless roar

Hearing that Junior had departed the plateau - again - caused her ears to perk up, though she didn't raise her eyes to Blue Willow. Kaskara had grown in both maturity and understanding these last six or seven weeks, and she hoped that Blue Willow could see it in her posture and hear it in her words. "Do you know where she went? Is she okay?" The last thing Kaskara wanted was for Junior to be hurt, or for the same situation to arise again. But it seemed that Blue Willow knew that Junior had left this time, so she must be alright. She must be.

"I wanted her to speak with you first, but I see that's not the case. However, I am truly the sorry for what I said those many weeks ago." Here she paused, knowing that the next words she had had to be truthful, but also carefully chosen. "While I still believe that you had a responsibility to care for the children during Peregrine's injury, I should not have said such mean and hateful things to you. I was hurt, and angry, and I have never been very good at dealing with my emotions."

Kas glanced up at Blue then, but quickly averted her eyes. "I should have come to you later, after everything calmed down, and spoken with you about my misgivings about the situation." She had not intended to speak at such length about this, but she was already talking, and she needed to explain herself. "There was part of me that didn't want to believe Junior was gone, part of me that knew that body wasn't hers, but I didn't know how to say it at the time. I should have kept my tongue and my head in check, but grief and anger are hard emotions to control, and I lost my temper."

While there was absolutely no excuse for what she did, these were the reasons for her outburst. These were the explanations behind her hateful words. "I am mostly humbly and sincerely sorry for causing you and Peregrine more pain during that awful time. I do not expect forgiveness, Miss Blue. I do not expect that kind of mercy from you. I had only hoped to ask you permission to visit Junior on occasion, but now that she is gone, I don't know what to expect from this." Kaskara's voice, which had been quiet but strong, suddenly faltered, and she grew quiet, not knowing what would happen next.