Sequoia Coast sea billows roll

dinah became the central pillar for their small family.
when heda could not rouse herself to hunt, her daughter did what she was able. when heda found herself transfixed by the sea, drifting in and out of association with the natural world, it was dinah who held them together.
and when simeon came to find what was left of his family, it was dinah who found him, who fed him, who embraced him.
she should go back for malakai.
she should rebuild for her children.
she should tell them, 'sweetharbor has to be something. it has to stand to commemorate daddy. it has to — we have to — persist. we have to make it. we have to be something.'
but heda could find no words. she could not even find anything inside herself anymore, nothing tangible. wake. hunt. feed. walk.
the air was cold. the sea did not relent. god did not smile down upon them.
she wound thin arms around simeon and held him close to her beating heart.
out of eight, three remained with her. out of eight, four remained in all, and heda told herself she must go back for malakai. she must reunite her four.
she must she must she must she must she must;
endure, saith the lord.