Sun Mote Copse It’s been a long day without you, my friend.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she was screaming. When her first lungful of breath ran out, she sucked in another and wailed three barely comprehensible words. Njord would surely recognize them, an echo of the past.

He gently shushed her, Meerkat’s third breath lowering into a sobbing moan before subsiding altogether. She clutched at her husband, burying her face somewhere between his neck and chest. Her tears wet his fur.

Now Njord’s words replayed in her head: “He didnae even wish tae call himself Swordfish anymore… she said he was like… a stranger…” And then her own voice repeated, “Of course he’s a stranger. He disappeared when he was a hurt child, now he must be a man.”

The Swordfish they’d lost that day was gone forever, Meerkat slowly realized. She was still glad to hear he was alive, though she mourned his loss anew. She hid her face against Njord again as the old wounds reopened, and wept.