Hoshor Plains Gentle Girl, Gentle Step

sobeille hoped for a little more interest, but ajei seemed reserved. this was new to sobeille -- everything about this girl was so very different from her.

she thought of chantale. chantale would definitely be in on a secret. i saw a ghost a few months ago. sobeille confided in a hushed whisper, wondering if this revelation would pique ajei's attention. dat ghost tol' me 'ow to kill someone.

she watched ajei slyly out of the corner of her eye, the burn of her golden gaze coyly lidded.

Ajei was always this way. Sometimes it upset her, she felt bad that she wasn't like others.

Ajei's eyes went wide a spirit. Oh my. This wasn't okay. A bad spirit 

Oh goodness. That doesn't sound like a good spirit. Moonwoman says they can make bad things happen.

Was it scary? Were you frightened?

loa could be anything, but sobeille agreed. this loa had not been a good spirit.

at least, not in the traditional sense. sobeille had the impression things in the spirit world were not so black or white.

frightened? she scoffed. but something pulled her back. she remembered once again that there was something different about her. like an offbeat drum, maybe. always showing up, but not quite in sync.


no. de loa tried to 'elp me. i was stuck in de cave. i t'ink she was showing me her memories.

Ajei didn't know them by the name of Loa. She only knew what moonwoman called them. And currently the name escaped her.

Ajei frowned. Oh i been stuck in caves b3fore. There were dead things in it. Big skull, medium and babies. The ground opened and Raq and i fell!:

Well maybe it was a neutral one. Neither good or bad. I am glad you are safe. And it helped you.

like any topic shared between children, the subject matter shifted. it expanded and grew, in the manner of a bucking sea.

sobeille leaned in, forgetting briefly about her own experience with the loa. whoa! dead things?

she might have shown too much interest. she self-corrected, flickering her gaze from ajei to the nails on her left paw. what dem bones be of? did you touch dem? and BABIES? what do you think got dem?

Ajei knew her own words sort of derailed the conversation, but well.  She had only wanted to share that she knew how it felt.

She nodded. Yes, skulls!

She shrugged. She remembered they had almost looked like wolves, but also maybe foxes? It was hard to tell with no mest or fur on them.

Raq and I carried them to the sun. De need good rest place not beneath the dirt. We think the den caved in on them.

skulls -- but of what variety? sobeille thought of all the skulls she'd seen in life.

mostly fish. one seal skull -- and it had been toothsome and gristly.

but there was another skull she knew well, of a wolf -- and that skull was her secret to bear.

who raq be? sobeille suddenly piped up, a black vision where raq's shape took form in her imagination. do you t'ink dey died right away? or did dey suffer? sobeille had never feared a den collapse, but now she began to wonder.

how many seconds after their last breath did a wolf's soul die?

We aren't sure they were wolves or foxes.

They were the size to be both. Though smaller wolf variety.

Ajei smiled l. oh that is my friend Massaraq. Big white like the mountains. He is the son of Kukutux and Aiolos. He was born little before mama Shikoba and pop Inutsuk had Chiteo and I.

Ajei shuddered. I don't want to think about it. I hope it was quick at least for the young ones.

Ahe imagin3d the parents probably sheltered their children. Or she hoped they did, because otherwise. Oh it was too painful to bear

ajei told her of her friend. he was big and the color of snow; son of the moonwoman and some name sobeille did not know.

she was quiet for a moment, reflecting. ajei had shuddered and sobeille saw it - there was an unrecognizable emotion in ajei's gaze. sobeille catalogued through each emotion she could name, trying to pin its identity.

it wasn't guilt. it wasn't anger. it wasn't happiness.

does t'inking about dem make you sad, ajei? sobeille did not understand. ajei hadn't known them -- why would she be sad they were dead?

Moonwoman and Sun man were he preferred references for the leaders of Moonglow. But she doubted very much that anyone would know what that meant at all.

Ajei nodded. Yes. They were so little some of the skulls, Sobeille. So they had to be young. They didn't get to enjoy life like you and I do. And it just seems sad.

Ajei didn't quite know why she had such a reaction. She didn't know them. Or even what them was. But they had been small and it was just hard.

there was something about ajei so profoundly different than sobeille. a softness — not weak or insipid — it reminded sobeille of a summer flower held in the cusp of a sun-ripened meadow.

sobeille considered the complexity of ajei’s compassion. how did such an emotion benefit her? did it? or was it costly — an emotion that tapped into their limited resources of time and energy.

well, mebbe it be a blessing’. dey died before dey knew much of anyt’ing. she shrugged, unable to afford a shred of empathy for what she thought were just concepts. mebbe you be one of dem, an’ you come back each time you die.

Ajei was not a harsh wolf. Nor did she know how to be. She had been born different. It was simple. She was simple. 

Ajei supposed that were she to be asked. She would say the emotions she felt both benefited and cost her something. But she also didn't have any other way to be. Nor did she know how.

A small frown in thought, furrowed brows. Perhaps. That is a strange concept to be sure. But it is also a bit like a happy ending. Didn't get it right the first time. So you get another chance.

sobeille apprised ajei with a careful look. it was long -- almost awkwardly so -- and at last her eye-contact broke away. there was a part of her that so desperately wanted to be normal. to be a happy little girl who fit in with her peers. to be seen as relatable, likeable even.

ya. like a do-over. except sobeille knew it was something a little different. she had seen it, there in the grotto -- a thousand lifetimes through the eyes of a single loa. i t'ink -- she drew a breath, then continued. i was a seal in a past life. mebbe. what about you, ajei?

Sobeille watched her almost painfully so. It made her shoulders feel funny. Sobeille was an interesting wolf. Ajei didn't know exactly what to think. But she liked the other girl well enough.

Ajei didn't even have to think. A river otter. she felt a strange kinship with the river dogs. Loved them found them delightful. And she loved the rivers so much.

u get post 200<3

how ajei felt about the river dogs was how sobeille felt about ocean wolves. there was something arresting about their tenacious beauty.

she thumbed her chin in thought. what's a river otter look like? sobeille’s experience was primarily with coastal flora and fauna - she had never seen the delightful shape of an otter before.

Congratz!

Ajei loved brother otter. Could spend hours watching thrm. Truly hated when wolves hunted them. But their skins were useful.

Ajei licked her muzzle. Mmm. Brown usually. Long and uh slinky. Have sharp claws on their paws. Big eyes and a strong tail for pushing in water. Cute.

brown with a muscular tail. oh! sobeille knew these things — but only by the kill val had brought her once from the mainland.

she nodded to herself confidently. oh yes. i ‘ave seen dem. she wrinkled her nose, remembering how round and unshapely the thing had been. wit’ big teeth!

little did she know val had brought her a beaver.

She had to think. Did she do their description justice? It was hard to determine if she had. Otters were difficult to describe. Their own entity.

Did they have big teeth? Oh yes they did sharp teeth like dogs. So she nodded. Yep.

I love them. They are my favorite. They play in the water.

there was no reason to think sobeille had misidentified the meal val brought her. so when ajei confirmed it with a nod, sobeille was satisfied. she knew what otters were.

big, round, rolly poly things with flat tails and buck teeth. yup.

dey be funny. sobeille had never seen them play, but she assumed like everything there was a mainland counterpart and an ocean counterpart. beavers were serious little water-tyrants in her neck of the woods. sometimes they scolded her from the banks of glintwater with the thrash of their tails.

ajei had prompted sobeille to consider -- did she even have a favorite animal? she liked the brilliant russet of fox pelts, and she was mesmerized by the grim grin of the seal skull -- but did she love any of these animals alive?

hm. you ever see a whale?

Ajei had never known otters to be funny. Cute. Brave. Wild. Yes. Well to each his own she supposed.

I don't like to hunt them, but maybe we can just chase them sometime?

Ajei made a soft noise in her throat and shook her head. Yes. One time when i visited brother Rodyn in moontide. We saw them all there. They so big!

Her eyes went big. She remembered how large they had been as they broke the surface. The loud sound of their bodies ahainst the waves. They had been both exciting and terrifying.

sobeille did not want to promise ajei she would not hunt the otters. anything that moved was fair game to the little she-wolf.

she cleared her throat. ajei mentioned she'd seen a whale once -- she nodded sagely, for they were impressively large. there was something about their haunting calls that drew sobeille to them.

'ave you heard them sing, ajei? it is like us. she closed her eyes, envisioning the dark shores of ankyra sound. out along the tide line, high columns of forceful air sounded like thunderclaps as they breached to breathe. some'times i 'ear them and it is like dey are calling to me. telling me to come to dem.

Ajei understood it was a difficult promise to request. So when no agreement was forthcoming. She put it aside. She didn't even know if the boys could just chase or if they would hunt. And that was alright. She knew she wasn't wntirely normal.

Shw shook her head. I don't think so. Only the waves crashing and some seals further away.

She had heard seals. Knew what they were from Rodyn. Ajei was surprised, but not upset. After all she felt much the same when near the river.

I feel that way about river sounds. Just sink right into it because it calls

despite their differences, they shared a communion in water. sobeille regarded ajei a little differently now.

there were three  rivers above dragoncrest; the three sisters -- maybe she would find otters there. i know a place we could find river otters, mebbe. will you come visit me at saffique, ajei? i will show you.

Ajwi didn't kno2 if she and Sobeille would be the best of friends. But they did have common interests and Ajei wondered if that was enough. She hoped so.

She nodded. Okay. Yea. I will visit you, but you may need to tell me how to get there? Is it close to moontide?

She could moontide as a point of reference. And then cut to her new friends home from there maybe?

sobeille did not know where moontide was; in fact, she knew very little of the world outside of sapphique at all. her gaze flickered to the distant adults -- the sound of the hunt briefly filtering between the silence.

i dunno. it be by de beach. mebbe we can ask our mamans. she could not imagine being told no -- but she resented having to for once, look to an adult for guidance.