Emberwood dvanaest

first time you come, she exhaled. you say no leaders.

it did not pain her to recall. it did not pain her to think of the body left in the wake and the missing faces never returned. maybe they lived happier elsewhere now. it did not matter — they were not her future.

i say, it will be mine. and it had not been made so, but she had claimed it then. she had burned hot and bright for it then. the world had changed, she had learned, and the fire in her came back. do not think it went away. only changed —

— changed to fit caribou, to fit clan. must be strong with a fighting heart. all of us.

when she looked to him now, it was with trust.