Lion Head Mesa [WP] höll

bjarna found herself terribly out of her depth.

@Taktuq should be somewhere, but the odd girl had lost sight of her in the waves of the crowd. everybody spoke at great lengths and she could understand none of it.

she found she missed @Sanja too greatly in these long hours.

carefully, she tried to scuffle her way to the edge of the crowd. somewhere softer and silent. there was an assortment of berries and meat.

she began to roll the berries with her nose. unorganized, no intent.

the picture of a wallflower.

it was teya who caught sight of the girl. this time she had stayed quite away from the berries, pacing herself as she had sorana to look after. there would be no liasions tonight; she was here strictly as an representative of brecheliant, ally to akashingo.
and yet she did take time to admire the decorations, the flowers, the dancing, the way that the moon seemed set in a fairy-ring of stars.
and she thought of bridget.
it was welcome to her, the reason to cut her mind away and focus on the child near the wall. "hello," she said, approaching and settling a little ways away. "you bored?"

it was a woman.

sunkissed, toasted and formal. bjarna, who had recently stumbled upon discomfort in her self image, was met with a brand new feeling.

jealousy.

followed promptly by embarrassment.

the words of the woman had been lost on her churning mind. pale blue eyes affixed to the sunspot woman. ears nervously leaned back and she shuffled to make herself smaller.

slowly she rolled a berry over.

the child was nervous, so teya pulled her eyes away. "that my daughter, sorana. and that tierra, from mereo. she soldier." and the raven was unsure how to characterize their relationship, though it had felt very nice to be so welcomed by the girl.
"pharaoh and new queen treva, servants. priests. guards," a paw lifted to point at each.

words.

words and words and —

bjarna felt overwhelmed. overstimulated. she did her best to follow along but she felt suddenly lost at sea. she badly wished for mother bear. to be tucked alongside mother and siblings.

this trip was supposed to be good.

she was supposed to learn plenty.

instead her eyes began to collect tears and that sting of embarrassment felt hotter than ever.

she looked away from the woman, hoping it would hide the rippling distress that washed over her.

she trailed off and looked worriedly at the girl. the tears were hot in the air. she saw the child turn away from her. she bit the inside of her jaw and cleared her throat, staring off toward the crowd.
maybe the girl did not speak her language. there were other words said at the palace. and to think, she had blabbered on.
but teya wanted to try again, perhaps out of some maternal ways; she flicked a berry toward the first, and both of them rolled to where the girl might see them.

berries rolled into her blurring vision.

it was not just a thing of her imagination or faltering sight.

the sunspot woman rolled a berry into her own, both of them came towards her. small next to her oversized paws. she plucked up a third one and then rolled all three back to the woman. only this time then splintered in varying directions.

teya reached; she caught one, then two. the third rolled beyond her, and she collected it with a chuckle.
now she rolled them back; one two three, in succession, watching as they each struck the one ahead and knocked them rolling faster!

she was motivated.

oversized paws slapped at the earth in a chase to catch the rolling berries. it was an unrefined hunter's dance. she did not carry the coordination of mother bear, but she had practiced the moves all the same.

only to have one of the berries beneath her paw as it came down in this dance. smashed against her paw pad in a way that bewildered.

the berry was nothing more than a mush against her paw.

slowly she raised it, blinking at the sight of it.

teya chuckled and lifted her own paw toward her mouth, showing how the girl should lick off the crushed berries. "it good," she told the little one. her eyes shone; she looked suddenly for sorana, and missed fervently the children of brecheliant.
she looked toward the kvarsheim girl and grinned again. "you okay?"

fade? <3

a word she knew!

okay was simple, easy.

okay. she nodded her head. now spoken for perhaps the first time tonight. her tail lazily swept across the ground.

she could find peace with the berries.