Bearclaw Valley viridis

giggles

she feels relief as her father joins her at the border, addressing the man with words. glorious words. silence is golden, but words are a different kind of currency. she soaks them all up, intending to use them later.

what can i do for you? she mouths, and then does it again, a broken, quiet automaton. what can i do for you?

anyone paying her any heed at all would think her mad, likely. but she is learning in the only way she can. her dam hasn't offered her anything of verbal substance, so she's picked things up from others. her father has the gift of the gab.

what can i do for you? she mouths.