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The news she'd just got were far from being good. Her heart felt heavy, as if the loss had been her own. Tuwawi had been the one to give her a place to rest when she was most fatigued. Tuwawi had been the one to feed her when starvation threatened to take her life. She had been the one to give her a push when she was just about to give up. And Arabella wouldn't forget those things.
But it wasn't her who suffered the biggest part of it. Maera, the princess kissed by fire was now alone in the world, left by both her parents and grieving the loss of all of her siblings. It had been too much. And hers was such a small body to hold all of it inside.
Arabella ran to the Sveijarn den, looking for the girl, she needed company, maybe a shoulder to cry on. But most importantly, she needed to know she wasn't alone. Mae?
she barked at the entrance, heart racing. Maera?
she called again, but there was no answer. It didn't surprise her. It was just the reaction she would've expected from her, but what she didn't know was where the girl could be. Or did she?
She took off. She ran as fast as her thin legs let her heading to the place that - besides Maera - only she knew about. And there she was. curled inside the trunk, her face washed in tears. Oh honey...
she said as she laid her head inside the hole that served as an entrance. Arabella would never fit in there, she was too big. But it was like a palace for Maera. You know I can't get in there, Sweetie. Don't you want to come out here?
she said with the sweetest voice she'd ever used. Do you want a hug?