Noctisardor Bypass Soft blue skies, helium balloons float up, away

heda's gaze hardened. "no, i —"
wylla looked tired. the last time, they'd played with butterflies and shouted about butt doctors. 
heda felt as though that time had been so long ago. "i mean, my name is heda now. not skaigona." the girl cocked her head and settled gingerly onto her pale haunches, examining wylla's facial details with the softer, more interested rudeness of children, untempered by social mores. "how did that happen?"
heda did not know what a promotion was. rather than question, she preferred to ignore the fact that she was ignorant. it was too embarassing to admit, least of all to such an intriguing person.
presently she crouched forward as well, nibbling on a bit of dried mud caught between two toes.