The Heartwood [m] In what appears to be a ritual "Godspeak" song of the Rieklings

It was not her mother who stopped her, but a blur of beige; a boy, Ana realized belatedly as he swept over her and sent them both tumbling away from the tree. A boy she did not know. But there was no fight left in her. Bleeding profusely from her head and from her mouth, she went limp during the fall, and when she found herself lodged firmly underneath him, a shiver ran through her whole body.

She buried her bloodied face into the pale fur at his neck and cried. Helplessly Ana clung to the boy, seeking comfort, abruptly aware of how touch-starved she was after weeks of self-imposed isolation from all but her littermates. Her head hurt. The world spun. And there was no room in her for questioning.

She'd wanted to make it all go away. Now she wanted nothing more than to be held, and told that it would all be okay, even if she could never believe it.