Wheeling Gull Isle snake eyed with a sly smile.

there was no comfort to come for ada; not in heda, not in her home, not even in the fractured gaze of abel. ada would forever be set apart — and this was the first day she was cognizant of it. 

caracal had his own torments to mull over. ava nodded numbly as he suggested they return home, thumbing one last silent tear from her cheeks before she rose on four chubby legs. 

she took one step, then another, and another. away from the flowered tunicate, away from the beach, away from the gradually unraveling thread that was her split sense of self.