Moonspear you could turn my sorrow into song

She held silent vigil as Njord spoke first about Sobo, then to him. Her ears pinned backward when he gave voice to his turmoil over siring his son without parenting him. Severed now from all things Sapphique, she felt her heart harden even more against these women who’d used her husband’s body, heart and soul. If not for him, Sobo’s entire litter wouldn’t exist! And yet they’d turned their back on Njord, as if he hadn’t given them life’s greatest gift! Meerkat found herself seething, eyes flashing in the aurora’s glow.

But by the time her mate finished, all the anger had gone and she felt only a profound sadness for Njord’s tragic loss, not just now but over the entire course of Sobo’s abbreviated life. She mourned with him, since his heart belonged to her in part. Tears streamed down her pale cheeks, not for Sobo, but for his bereaved da.

Mindful of those who slept nearby, Meerkat joined her husband’s dirge with a quiet note of her own. How many such songs had been sung to this very mountain? Did the spirits really dance in these feathering lights soaring across the night sky? Could Sobo see them from some heavenly perch, perhaps glaring coldly at Meerkat’s inner monologue? Somehow, that thought made her lips twitch at the corners despite everything, her verse of the song lightening.