Ouroboros Spine not today

do not say it.

but her mother was afraid, scared. callyope wanted to soothe and tell her there was no need to be! only it would be too heavy a lie to tell. there were so many reasons to be in fear and she saw now how it shook her mother to a core unseen by any.

the praise felt more like scorn, even if her mother spoke with love.

perhaps she should pry the boy the from the forest, from the lake. bring white elk here and settle among her family. callyope walked between two worlds but it was not the sunshine and the spirit. it was a world of safety and a world of danger.

and a spirit name!

i am not mother yet — but maybe her mother was afraid of this too. that callyope might not become mother or that she would be another lost daughter before it could be heard.

she nodded her head softly. it did not matter as long as her mother thought the time was right.