Hushed Willows we used to be close but people can go from people you know to people you don’t

Thank you both for dropping in here (literally, lmao). This’ll be my last post.

Her mind suddenly turned to the burrow they’d shared that first night; the den they’d filled with their family; and all the places on the shore they enjoyed. Tears brimmed and oozed, silently now. She was exhausted and, besides that, painfully conscious of her audience.

She glanced up between sticky eyelids and saw they were both just sitting there. They weren’t harming her, yet they couldn’t help her either. And Meerkat didn’t want to suffer this grief in front of two men, one she barely knew and the other she knew not at all.

Sniffing, she turned away and stepped out from beneath the willow. It was raining. She hadn’t even noticed. Meerkat tipped her head toward it, icy droplets washing the warm saltwater from her face. She thought about going home—which was Njord and her sons, now, more than a geographical location—but for now, she slunk further into Hushed Willows to let this lament finish running its course.