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

Heda was more perceptive than Wylla thought. The girl was lacking in some vital education, but she picked up on Wylla's bone-deep exhaustion as quickly as if Wylla had told her about it. Oh, she said, knowing she could not possibly burden a child with her woes, it is the witch's curse. To know sadness for all my days. Sometimes it makes me very tired.

That seemed like a good enough explanation.

Neice, she said when Heda trailed off. She scanned the trees above. Wylla never paid much mind to birds, or nature in general. She was too self-absorbed to care about it. The only time she noticed birds was when she was hunting them, and she thought of a large-breasted duck with a pang of annoyance. She didn't see any birds in the trees, but then, she wasn't looking very hard for them. Birds could hide very well. Yeah, sure, go ahead.

But Heda went off on a tangent about lying, and Wylla tilted her head to the side so she could see the girl looking back at her. Lying is ... Complicated, said Wylla. I am sorry for lying. It wasn't a very nice joke. Funny as hell, though. She would never forget the look on the girl's face when she thought butterflies were going to come out of her butt.

Grown-ups shouldn't lie, either, she said softly, but sometimes, you have to lie. Sometimes, grown-ups lie because they are scared of the truth. Wylla considered herself an honest wolf, these days, but the lure of lying was always present. Heda was sure to have questions about that, too, but Wylla was growing weary, and tried to get a jump on the girl by prompting, the birds?