Sequoia Coast tripeka

caracal kissing her, caracal laughing. caracal calling her wifey. caracal praying with her. his face, indescribable, at the birth of their children. his acceptance of eight in the end.
tireless
and she had spat in his face.
snippets of years before: a hunt, a glacier, a woodland. sequoia. druid. mahler.
a father wound that never healed.
she had not eaten when the stranger approached. her coloration, her eyes; they went largely unregistered by the white wolf. the fish tasted like nothing in her mouth, mechanical bites generating energy to go on, to force herself on.