Dragoncrest Cliffs follow the moskva down to gorky park

Njord’s kids—Sobo, particularly—hadn’t quite managed to pop her happy bubble, though there was definitely a small hole in it now and it was beginning to sag. Meerkat felt a little sulky about it today as she walked along the beach, kicking at small pebbles. She would’ve invited her lover to join her, yet she didn’t want him to see her struggling with this. She knew she could tell him anything and they could tackle the problem together. That was the entire point of an intimate relationship, wasn’t it? But it felt too early to burden him with this.

Anyway, she suspected she was letting it get under her skin a bit too much right now. It wasn’t really like her to feel as hopeless as she did this morning, the ugly skies matching her mood. It made her think of Sialuk’s words, “There has been a shadow on my spirit.” Meerkat hoped the feeling would run its course and pass in a day or two.

Something glittered on the wet sand, distracting her from her thoughts. It was just a rock, by the look of it, albeit a particularly shiny one. Although the talk of finding a gift for Njord had been more of a ploy than anything, she suddenly wondered if her lover might like a small present. Meerkat bent and picked it up in her teeth, carrying it toward the stone archway at the mouth of the bay and taking a seat in its shadow.

When she set down the stone again, it looked duller than before. Meerkat sighed. Njord deserved something better than some random refuse she’d found on the beach. Who wanted a dumb rock? She kicked it away and then sank down onto her belly, legs outstretched. She let her head drop to rest on them, a single tear welling and catching in the corner of her eye before sliding down her cheek.