Dawnlark Plains kwana-ci

When he is gone, Ayovi settles into the snow and frees her tears. For the first time she acknowledges an aching homesickness for Big Sky. Coväh has fled with the wind, feeling more like a figment now that he has faded away, but she still sees his golden form in her mind.
Try as she might, she can no longer conjure her father’s face with clarity. Her breaths break into sobs.
“It’s ok to cry sometimes,” she croons to her belly, holding the half-formed lives between her hands; laying like this until dawn turns to day. She grazes her heavy side with her lips, holding her lips there a moment. “Let’s go find daddy.”
Then Ayovi musters to her feet, filling her belly and harvesting a haunch for Skorpa; the liver for Elowen.