The Tangle gymnopédie no.1

Avi, she answers easily, and then she stiffens.

my mother had an eye like yours.

i have my ma eyehh, Avicus says slowly, filling up with an icy sense of grief and trepidation altogether. who is this girl? why do they keep finding commonalities?

she exhales briefly through her nostrils in a quiet snort, trying to play it off. maybe we fami'y, she mutters. but the young Wealda is clearly disturbed, and she paces in a brief circle or two before stopping, shaking her head.

it didn't matter. Astara was dead, and Averna gone. she will never know.

be careful, Avicus says, looking at Sakhmet. if you needh a home, my pack ihh over dhere. another nod toward the rise, and a last, lingering look toward the traveler.

then she was off, gone, fire leaping o'er the gnarled hillocks.