Deepwood Weald solenne

He acknowledged her remark with the same detached melancholy as he had her presence. Towhee hesitated, not sure if he wanted her to continue engaging him. Did she even want to deal with someone this down in the dumps right now? She already had one foot aboard the struggle bus herself.

Perhaps for that reason, she felt compelled to say, You don’t know me but my name is Towhee Redhawk. I was born in these wilds over seven years ago. As you can imagine, I’ve dealt with a lot of whumps over those years. So if you need to talk about it with someone who’ll probably understand…

She trailed off with a noncommittal shrug. Chances were he didn’t really want to talk about it, especially with a perfect stranger. But just talking to Meerkat the other day had really lifted her spirits. Granted, they didn’t even know one another’s first names but she felt better for offering. If he didn’t take it, that was okay.