Emberwood you're a dime, plus ninety-nine

it was embarassing to admit that neither name had much of a meaning at all. khoe doesn't mean anything, she said, and bhediya just means wolf. there wasn't a lot of creativity that went into choosing either name. i tried not to speak the common language when you were little. do you remember any of it? there would be no disappointment if easy said no, because at this point, even bhe was beginning to forget.

she laughed at the girl's musings. even with knowing how long it'd been, it was strange realizing how much they'd aged, matured. did someone give you blackbear? bhediya asked, it fits. easy was a mammoth of a wolf, her size comparable to the northerners within the pack. she thought of pygmalion and how odd it might feel to stand between them. 

i remember the cutie days, she laughed, it was sweet, but it could be annoying. if there was one thing that bhediya was insecure about, it was surely her size. try as she might, those legs weren't growing any taller. especially back then. i wanted to be tall so bad. now, i'm an old lady, and i'm still just as short. come next winter, she imagined herself so small that her belly scraped the ground.