Blackfeather Woods i used to float

he wanted it to be sulukinak! that was the only name that came to mind when he found the scent of the stranger; this woman, who looked more like a sister than a mother. he did not want to think of his mother — or how he had failed her.

it was not her. it was someone else, some stranger lost in the dark the same way he was.

she spoke to him! it had been so long since agakiggruk had experienced a proper conversation, but she saw him, he was there and he was real, and her words sounded so loud to his ears! and then, she was shitting.

he slunk to where she'd hidden herself. if the smell was off-putting he gave no indication.

she was all apologies; he'd latched upon her question and been formulating a response all this time, and said, i don't. a little too late to make sense, probably. poking his head around the bush where he could see her crumpled legs, maybe make out an ear that had turned back.

its so dark, here.