Totoka River [m] fire dancer

it was cen.
her cen, her cen; she sees it in the breadth of his grin and the gentleness of his touch, the delicate but sharp way he moves. he looks at her as if she is the center of his world, in that moment, and red leaf can feel her blood burst with affection.
her cen. her husband. her love. her world.
and i do not regret leaving the sharadoii to come with you, which, for that moment, was true.
she missed them often, her parents and the shining rays of her valley home; but moments such as this made it worth it. moments such as this were why she had crossed the glacier the first time, before —
she will not think of that now. she wonders if ghaden smiles down upon his siblings from the spirit realm, if perhaps his soul has been moved into that of a swan or a caribou or an otter; if he is watching. if he is happy. red leaf liked to think so. he had been her son, too.
the young woman eases down into the pelts, and for the first time in a long time, she does not dream.