Ouroboros Spine not today

the grove.

she had not been back.

she did not want to go back.

images of callyope beneath that water struck her mind as if it were a dry tree.

kukutux let out her breath in a long breath. always, always, she had held to the ideals of her daughters as their own, as only needing her mother's support.

now! now — "i feel that you and panuk should come back to this village. white elk too. yes. that place," and she patted her daughter's paw with a trembling touch, "that place."

her eyes stared at nothing.