Sun Mote Copse iridescent

Meerkat’s moods were all over the place lately. Just this afternoon, she’d spirited away in a quiet corner of the copse to cry for a while. Now her head pounded and she worried that her face was puffy. But she wouldn’t miss tonight’s commemoration for anything in the world. She was a little heartsick lately, though that same heart rested safely in Njord’s hands. She knew he would stand beside her through life’s ups and downs. That was the whole point of their vows, old and renewed.

Earlier in the day, she had plucked a single Nootka rose from a small bush near her hideaway. When her husband’s summons rang through the darkling trees, she trotted to meet him with the stem clenched gently in her teeth. Meerkat set the single bloom beside the chunks of stone on the stump, pausing to admire them. She stepped back, catching his eye in the gloom before sidling around the stump to press a kiss to his cheek, then gently lean her head on his shoulder.

She let her eyes slip shut, trying to settle her heart and mind so she could just be with Njord and enjoy this small, moonlit celebration.