Ouroboros Spine even now you mark my steps

nantahala was on a mission.
something was horribly wrong with her little family. first, a new group of kids showed up and had not seemed to have left (which nantahala hadn't minded, especially not when she found out one of them was her friend nutu). but then, there was arguing, and shouting, and now everyone was looking at each other with big, sad eyes all the time. she did not understand!
aaka was, too, bogged down by this tension that seemed to plague the morningsides. so nantahala devised a plan — she was going to bring her a gift! that had to make her smile.
this afternoon, she'd toddled away from the ulax hot on the trail of her father; and in her jaws was a mysteriously-vague bone. or perhaps it was an antler. she didn't know, but she thought it was cool, and so she assumed aaka would, too.
she dragged it all the way down the trail, thinking herself to be so stealthy as she snuck around tall trees and wide bushes. the pads of her feet hurt by the time she caught up to the pair, and she was breathing through her mouth rather melodramatically.
she boldly interrupts their conversation by dropping the bone with a loud thud at the twitching feet of aaka, looking up to aapa with bright blue eyes that sought approval. her tail propelled itself behind her, swinging in wide, excited sweeps.